WOMEN'S  EDUCATIONAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL 
UNION,  BOSTON 

DEPARTMENT  OF  RESEARCH 


STUDIES  IN  ECONOMIC  RELATIONS  OF  WOMEN 


VOLUME  I.  Vocations  for  the  Trained  Woman. 
Opportunities  other  than  Teaching.  Edited  by 
Agnes  F.  Perkins.  8vo.,  $1.20  net.  Postage 
extra. 

VOLUME  II.  Labor  Laws  and  Their  Enforcement, 
with  Special  Reference  to  Massachusetts.  By 
Charles  E.  Persons,  Mabel  Parton,  Mabelle 
Moses  and  Three  "Fellows."  Edited  by  Susan 
M.  Kingsbury,  Ph.D.  8vo.,  $2.00  net.  Postage 
extra.  

LONGMANS,  GREEN,  AND  Co. 

NEW  YORK,   LONDON,   BOMBAY  AND    CALCUTTA 


WOMEN'S  EDUCATIONAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  UNION 

BOSTON 

DEPARTMENT  OF  RESEARCH 


STUDIES  IN 
ECONOMIC    RELATIONS    OF   WOMEN 

VOLUME  I 


Copyright,  1910,  by 

WOMEN'S  EDUCATIONAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  UNION 
BOSTON,  MASS. 


GEO.   H.   ELLIS   CO.,  PRINTERS,   BOSTON,    MASS. 


VOCATIONS 

FOR    THE 

TRAINED     WOMAN 

OPPORTUNITIES  OTHER  THAN  TEACHING 


INTRODUCTORY   PAPERS 

EDITED  BY 

AGNES  F.  PERKINS,   A.M. 

M 
WELLESLEY   COLLEGE 


LONGMANS,    GREEN,    AND     CO. 

FOURTH  AVENUE  &  30TH  STREET,  NEW  YORK 

LONDON,  BOMBAY  AND  CALCUTTA 

1910 


PREFACE 


This  book  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  conviction  that  many  women 
who  are  unfitted  for  teaching  drift  into  it  because  it  is  the  voca- 
tion with  which  they  are  most  familiar;  that  the  teaching  which 
results  is  injurious  to  both  teacher  and  pupil;  that  many  who 
make  poor  teachers  might  become  able  workers  if  wisely  guided 
into  other  fields.  To  suggest  to  such  women,  and  to  others  about 
to  choose  an  occupation,  some  lines  of  work  now  open  to  them 
and  the  equipment  which  they  should  have  to  justify  a  hope  of 
success  in  any  given  line,  is  the  purpose  of  the  following  papers. 

The  work  was  begun  by  Miss  Mabel  Parton,  Director  of  the 
Research  Department  of  the  Women's  Educational  and  In- 
dustrial Union,  1906  to  1909,  with  the  co-operation  of  Miss 
Annie  Marion  MacLean,  Professor  of  Sociology,  Adelphi  Col- 
lege, Brooklyn,  representing  The  Inter-Municipal  Research  Com- 
mittee. Two  research  fellows  were  to  gather  facts  from  rep- 
resentative men  and  women  engaged  in  various  occupations  in 
Boston  and  New  York,  and  their  reports  were  to  furnish  ma- 
terial for  the  book.  The  articles  by  Miss  Gertrude  Marvin  in 
the  present  volume  represent  the  beginning  of  the  investigation 
in  Boston,  which  was  made  possible  by  the  generous  contribution 
of  the  late  Mr.  Henry  S.  Grew  and  of  Mrs.  Henry  Pickering. 
As  it  soon  became  evident,  however,  that  thorough  studies  must 
involve  longer  time  and  more  labor  than  was  then  available,  the 
plan  was  modified.  An  English  publication,  "The  Finger  Post,  a 
Guide  to  the  Professions  and  Occupations  of  Educated  Women," 
suggested  a  series  of  articles  by  specialists,  and  this  idea  was  at  once 
followed  up  by  Miss  Parton  in  Boston  and  Miss  MacLean  in  New 
York.  When,  later,  serious  illness  obliged  Miss  Parton  to  with- 
draw wholly  from  the  work,  a  general  editor  became  a  necessity; 
and  with  the  continued  interest  and  aid  of  Miss  MacLean,  the 
added  help  of  Miss  Marion  Parris,  Associate  in  Economics  at 
Bryn  Mawr  College,  and  the  assistance  of  the  many  who  have 


259749 


vi  PREFACE 

generously  contributed  papers,  the  following  articles  have  been 
brought  together  under  the  title  "Introductory  Papers."  It  is 
the  further  intention  of  the  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial 
Union  to  publish,  under  the  direction  of  the  Research  Department, 
a  series  of  studies  in  fields  of  work  here  outlined. 

The  articles  in  this  book,  written  largely  by  men  and  women  at 
work  in  Boston  and  New  York,  or  the  two  States,  Massachusetts 
and  New  York,  represent  the  situation  in  these  two  sections.  It 
is  obvious,  then,  that  local  conditions  must  be  taken  into  account 
in  reading  them.  The  personal  point  of  view  must  also  be  reck- 
oned with.  Articles  giving  individual  views  of  given  fields  for 
which  statistics  cannot  be  got  without  elaborate  investigation  are, 
in  their  very  nature,  personal  and  in  danger  of  being  prejudiced. 
The  different  sections  cannot,  then,  definitely  figure  the  facts. 
They  do,  however,  suggest  clearly  enough  the  present  possibilities 
for  women  in  various  occupations. 

Each  contributor  has  been  asked  to  cover  the  following  topics: 
the  nature  of  the  work,  the  training  necessary  or  desirable,  the 
opportunities  and  compensation, — maximum,  minimum,  and  aver- 
age. The  sections  have  been  arranged  according  to  the  kind  of 
training  that  leads  to  the  different  occupations  or  to  the  nature 
the  work  itself.  The  better  known  professions — law,  medi- 
cine, architecture — have  of  necessity  been  omitted,  to  make  room 
for  vocations  less  known  and  less  easily  inquired  into.  The 
field  of  arts  and  crafts  has  also  been  left  undeveloped,  be- 
cause every  inquiry  has  brought  the  warning  that  "it  is  only  the 
exceptional  genius  or  the  craftsman  with  exceptional  training 
who  can,  at  the  present  time,  earn  a  living  wage  by  the  artistic 
crafts,  without  giving  time  and  vitality  to  teaching  the  craft." 
It  has  seemed  wise,  however,  to  include  a  few  special  forms  of 
teaching  for  which  the  demand  is  great  and  the  supply  inadequate. 

In  some  articles  mention  is  made  of  sources  from  which  further 
information  may  be  obtained.  Questions  bearing  upon  the  pos- 
sibilities of  work  in  any  given  occupation  may  be  sent  to  the 
Appointment  Bureau  of  the  Women's  Educational  and  Indus- 
trial Union,  264  Boylston  Street,  Boston,  Massachusetts,  which 
has  been  established  for  the  purpose  of  directing  trained  women 
into  vocations  other  than  teaching. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I.    SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE. 

Opportunities  for  Women  Trained  in  Research. 

SUSAN  M.  KINGSBUBY  1 
Civic  SERVICE. 

Civil  Service MARION  PARRIS  4 

Police  Matron  Service      .    .    .     ALICE  L.  WOODBRIDGE  8 

Probation  Work MAUDE  E.  MINER  9 

Probation  Work  in  the  Juvenile  Court. 

IRENE  COWAN  MARSHALL  13 

State  Child  Saving MARY  W.  DEWSON  14 

State  Reformatory  Work  for  Girls  and  Women. 

KATHARINE  BEMENT  DAVIS  16 

State  Charities  Aid  Work   ....  MARY  VIDA  CLARK  18 

Playground  Work JOSEPH  LEE  20 

Social  Centre  Work EDWARD  J.  WARD  25 

Economic  Research SUSAN  M.  KINGSBURY  28 

Municipal  Research WILLIAM  H.  ALLEN  30 

SOCIAL  SERVICE. 

Work  in  the  Association  for  Improving  the  Condition 

of  the  Poor HALLE  D.  WOODS  33 

Work  in  the  Organized  Charities. 

MARY  GRACE  WORTHINGTON  36 

Child  Saving C.  C.  CARSTENS,  Ph.D.  40 

Medical  Social  Service     .    .   RICHARD  C.  CABOT,  M.D.  42 

GARNET  ISABEL  PELTON  45 

Rent  Collecting     ....   LILIAN  MARCHANT  SKINNER  49 

BLANCHE  GEARY  55 

Settlement  Work ROBERT  A.  WOODS  56 

MARY  KINGSBURY  SIMKHOVITCH  58 
Welfare  Work. 

From  the  Point  of  View  of  the  Business  House  ...  63 
Young  Women's  Christian  Association  Work. 

ELIZABETH  WILSON  68 

Nursing LILLIAN  D.  WALD  71 


viu  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

II.    SCIENTIFIC  WORK. 

Work  for  Women  Trained  in  Chemistry. 

JAMES  F.  NORRIS  74 

Work  for  Women  Trained  in  Biology.  PERCY  G.  STILES  76 

Museum  Work 79 

III.  DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  AND  ARTS. 

DOMESTIC  SCIENCE. 

The  Field  of  Domestic  Science  ....    HELEN  KINNE  81 

The  Institutional  Dietitian     .    FLORENCE  R.  CORBETT  85 

The  Visiting  Dietitian      .    .     WINIFRED  STUART  GIBBS  87 

Institutional  Management  .    .    .  JULIET  C.  PATTERSON  89 
Hotels,  Restaurants,  Catering  Establishments. 

GERTRUDE  L.  MARVIN  92 

Lunch-room  Management       .    .    .  BERTHA  STEVENSON  96 

Laundry  Work GRACE  G.  WHITE  97 

DOMESTIC  ARTS. 

The  Field  of  Domestic  Arts.     Compiled  from  Notes  by 

Mrs.  NELLY  HATTERSLEY  100 

Dressmaking AGNES  HINDS  107 

JANE  FALES  111 

Millinery C.  LOTHROP  HIGGINS  113 

EVELYN  SMITH  TOBEY  116 

Interior  Decoration  .    .    .     CELESTE  WEED  ALLBRIGHT  119 

IV.  AGRICULTURE. 

Agricultural  Occupations A.  R.  MANN  122 

KENYON  L.  BUTTERFIELD  131 

General  Farming K.  C.  LIVERMORE  133 

JEAN  KANE  FOULKE  143 

Dairy  Farming CHARLOTTE  BARRELL  WARE  146 

Poultry  Farming WILLIAM  P.  BROOKS  151 

Bee-keeping JAMES  B.  PAIGE  152 

Market-gardening H.  F.  TOMPSON  154 

PERSIS  BARTHOLOMEW  157 

Floriculture E.  A.  WHITE  158 

Small  Fruit-growing F.  C.  SEARS  160 

Landscape  Gardening BEATRIX  JONES  'Ifi^ 

Forestry MIRA  L.  DOCK  163 


CONTENTS  ix 

PAGE 

V.    BUSINESS. 

Advertising •    .    .    .    .  168 

Work  in  Department  Stores   .     GERTRUDE  L.  MARVIN  173  y 

Buying  in  Department  Stores     .    .  RALPH  ALBERTSON  -  186  *- 

Banking ELEANOR  B.  RICHARDSON  188 

GERTRUDE  UNDERBILL  191 

M.  LOUISE  ERWIN  194 

Real  Estate Mrs.  M.  E.  ALEXANDER  195 

Insurance EDNA  B.  LEWIS  198 

VI.    CLERICAL  AND  SECRETARIAL  WORK. 

Clerical  and  Secretarial  Work,    SARAH  LOUISE  ARNOLD  201— 

HELEN  M.  KELSEY  206 

Private  Secretary  Work  .  ANNE  PILLSBURY  ANDERSON  209 
Secretary  Work  in  the  Business  Office. 

ALICE  HARRIET  GRADY  210 
TIL    LITERARY  WORK. 

Library  Work    ....     JOSEPHINE  ADAMS  RATHBONE  215 

Library  Training MARY  ESTHER  ROBBINS  221 

Newspaper  Work GERTRUDE  L.  MARVIN  227  .» 

AGNES  E.  RYAN  236 

Free  Lancing MINNIE  J.  REYNOLDS  241 

•Work  in  a  Publishing  House  .    .    .    EDITH  A.  WINSHIP  244 

JESSIE  REID  248 

Magazine  Work JAMES  E.  TOWER  250 

Indexing JULIA  E.  ELLIOTT  258 

Translating HELOISE  BRAINERD  261 

VIII.    ART. 

Illustrating  and  Fashion  Drawing 264 

Commercial  Designing 268 

Museum  Work ELIZABETH  M.  GARDINER  270 

IX.    SPECIAL   FORMS   OF   TEACHING. 

Vocational  Teaching    .    .    FLORENCE  M.  MARSHALL  273 

Training  in  Salesmanship    .    .     LUCINDA  W.  PRINCE  277 

Teaching  Mental  Defectives.  CORA  ELIZABETH  WOOD  281 

WALTER  E.  FERNALD,  M.D.  283 

Physical  Education AMY  M.  HOMANS  285 

Corrective  Work  in  Physical  Education. 

ROBERT  W.  LOVETT,  M.D.  288 

INDEX  293 


I 

SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE 


WOMEN    TRAINED    IN    RESEARCH 

SUSAN  M.  KINGSBURY 

DIRECTOR  OF  THE  RESEARCH  DEPARTMENT,  WOMEN'S  EDUCATIONAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL 

UNION,  BOSTON 

Professor  John  R.  Commons  has  well  stated  the  function  of 
research:  "The  motto  of  academic  research  is  *  truth  for  its  own 
sake,'  regardless  of  the  practical  uses  to  which  it  can  be  put.  .  .  . 
In  the  infancy  of  a  science,  when  its  practical  applications  are 
unsuspected,  or  on  the  fringes  of  a  science  where  the  applications 
are  in  doubt,  investigations  can  have  no  other  aim  than  the  dis- 
covery of  truth  for  its  own  sake.  .  .  .  But  when  a  science  has 
been  developed,  when  its  applications  are  being  made,  when  the 
world  is  eager  for  its  utility,  when  hundreds  of  investigators  have 
fallen  in  line,  research  must  set  up  a  new  aim,  truth  for  the  sake 
of  practice.  .  .  .  The  science  of  political  economy  and  sociology 
is  now  being  called  upon  for  something  practical.  Legislation 
has  been  left  to  the  lawyers  and  the  politicians.  .  .  .  Take  the 
great  questions  of  the  day  that  are  pressing  for  solution :  the  regu- 
lation of  public  utilities,  the  revision  of  the  currency,  the  revision 
of  the  tariff,  and  many  others.  They  are  economic  and  not 
merely  legal  questions.  But  when  the  committee  of  the  Wis- 
consin Legislature  settled  down  to  work  out  a  bill  for  the  regula- 
tion of  public  utility  on  an  economic  basis  they  could  find  but 
little  in  the  writings  of  the  economists  that  indicated  to  them  what 
they  should  do.  On  that  and  other  subjects  the  science  remains 
in  its  academic  stage,  long  after  it  has  been  called  upon  for  con- 
structive work."  (Charities  and  the  Commons,  October,  1908.) 
The  result  has  been  a  demand  upon  economists  and  sociologists 
for  students  equipped  to  secure,  to  assemble,  to  classify,  and 


2  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

especially  to  interpret  facts  in  their  relation  one  to  the  other 
and  in  their  wider  application.  Opportunities  in  this  field  may 
be  classified  as  positions  in  scientific  research,  social  research, 
political  and  municipal  research,  and  economic  research. 

Her  taste  for  a  field  of  activity  should  be  the  first  subject  for 
consideration  by  a  student  who  is  about  to  choose  a  career;  and, 
if  she  is  then  inclined  to  direct  her  efforts  within  that  field  to  re- 
search, her  natural  ability  for  such  work  should  control  her  de- 
cision. An  intense  desire  to  seek  the  truth,  and  the  power  to 
cleave  to  the  truth,  unwillingness  to  accept  a  verdict  unless 
clearly  proved,  and  to  insist  upon  cumulative  testimony  before 
accepting  the  evidence  as  conclusive;  powers  of  concentration 
and  "of  infinite  pains";  ability  to  understand  a  situation  from 
the  point  of  view  of  another  rather  than  from  one's  own  experi- 
ence,— a  certain  type  of  imagination, — and  to  conceive  of  every 
kind  of  procedure  to  secure  information, — another  type  of  imagi- 
nation,— these  are  the  essential  qualifications  for  success  in  re- 
search, whatever  the  field  of  activity. 

While  the  opportunities  for  research  in  any  one  subject  are  not 
wide,  the  character  of  the  work  and  the  ability  demanded  for  its 
accomplishment  are  similar  in  all.  It  is,  therefore,  the  function 
of  this  introductory  note  to  suggest  that  training  may  be  such 
as  to  enable  the  young  woman  qualified  for  research  to  enter 
one  of  two  fields  in  which  openings  may  occur.  For  example, 
a  woman  particularly  interested  in  biology,  who  is  unable  to 
complete  a  thorough  graduate  course,  or  who  enjoys  greater  activ- 
ity than  that  afforded  by  laboratory  work,  may  well  secure  a 
background  in  economic  subjects  and  in  government,  and  take 
up  such  an  occupation  as  that  of  sanitary  inspector  under  a  board 
of  health.  Indeed,  it  may  be  questioned  whether  a  system  of 
majors  and  minors  is  not  essential  for  the  highest  specialization, 
affording  powers  for  more  intensive  work,  and  at  the  same  time 
being  opportune  in  case  of  a  limitation  in  number  of  more  scien- 
tific positions  available. 

A  classification  of  the  subjects  in  which  occupations  for  re- 
search may  occur  may  be  helpful,  a  discussion  of  each  subject 
being  presented  in  connection  with  the  papers  in  this  section  and 
in  the  following  section  on  science : — 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  3 

I.     SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH  may  be  subdivided  into: — 

1.  Chemical  research,  training  for  which  would  lead  to 

positions  in  chemical  laboratories  or  assistantships 
to  chemists,  positions  in  manufactories  where  a 
knowledge  of  investigation  is  important,  or  posi- 
tions of  investigators  in  pure-food  laboratories. 

2.  Pathological  research,  training  for  which  would  pre- 

pare for  positions  in  hospitals  and  physicians' 
offices. 

3.  Hygienic  research,  or  Sanitary  research,  training  for 

which  would  prepare  women  for  positions  in  lab- 
oratories of  investigation  in  connection  with  medi- 
cine, feeding  of  children,  physical  training,  die- 
tetics, sanitation,  pure-food  inspection. 

II.  SOCIAL  RESEARCH  seems  to  be  concerned  with  the  daily 
life  of  the  people,  their  pleasures,  their  social  rela- 
tions, their  education,  their  home-making  capacity. 
Investigations  in  this  field,  therefore,  would  deal 
more  largely  with  educational,  ethical,  psychological, 
and  social  principles  than  with  economic  principles. 

Training,  especially  where  combined  with  prepa- 
ration in  educational  or  industrial  processes  or  eco- 
nomics, may  therefore  lead  to  positions  in: — 

1.  Charity  organizations. 

2.  Educational  work,  such  as  teaching  of  industrial  and 

trade  subjects  in  settlements. 

3.  Pure  social  work,  such  as  social  secretaries,  welfare 

managers  in  factories  or  stores,  club  leaders,  set- 
tlement workers,  agents  in  juvenile  courts,  chil- 
dren's aid  societies,  and  other  institutions  for  cor- 
rection of  social  conditions. 

III.  MUNICIPAL  AND  POLITICAL  RESEARCH  has  as  its  function 
investigation  of  the  administration  of  public  funds 
and  public  affairs.  It  has,  therefore,  legal  and  judi- 
cial character,  and  concerns  itself  with  economy  in 
public  affairs  and  with  public  education.  Training 
for  such  research  would  probably  not  open  up  ad- 
ministrative and  executive  positions  which  are  apt 


t  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

to  be  those  at  the  disposal  of  the  public,  but  would 
prepare  for  research  in  the  restrictive  institutions  of 
the  law  and  the  public  corrective  institutions,  al- 
though such  training  might  well  fit  a  woman  who  had 
had  a  secretarial  or  commercial  education  for  assist- 
ants' positions  in  the  public  offices  or  for  civic  posi- 
tions. 

IV.  ECONOMIC  RESEARCH  is  concerned  with  one  of  three  or 
perhaps  more  phases  of  the  protection  and  promo- 
tion of  the  people  in  their  money-getting  and  money- 
spending  capacity.  Training  in  economic  research 
may  lead  toward  pure  research  work,  or  toward  ad- 
ministrative positions  requiring  ability  to  pursue  or 
direct  lines  of  research  in  connection  with  the  duties 
of  the  position,  or  toward  positions  of  leadership  or 
of  correction  requiring  knowledge  of  economic  condi- 
tions. 


CIVIC  SERVICE 


WOMEN  IN  THE   CIVIL  SERVICE 

MARION  PARRIS 

ASSOCIATE  IN  ECONOMICS,  BBTN  MAWB  COLLEGE 

A  promising  area  of  activity  is  opening  for  women  in  the 
Federal,  State,  and  Municipal  Civil  Service.  Since  the  passage 
of  the  Civil  Service  Law  in  1883,  women  have  taken  ad- 
vantage of  this  opening  in  ever-increasing  numbers.  In  1880 
but  3.1  per  cent,  of  all  federal  officials  were  women;  in  1890  the 
proportion  had  risen  to  5.9  per  cent.;  in  19QO,  to  9.4  per  cent., 
or  8,119  women  office-holders  as  compared  with  78,488  men. 
The  Census  of  1910  will  probably  show  the  proportion  of  women 
to  be  15  per  cent,  or  over.  The  Civil  Service  Commissioner 
reports  that  "the  percentage  of  women  is  highest  in  the  Depart- 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC   SERVICE  5 

ment  of  the  Interior,  being  31;  in  the  Government  Printing 
Office  it  is  29,  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture  it  is  19,  and 
in  the  Treasury  Department  15.  In  other  departments  and 
independent  offices  the  percentage  and  the  absolute  number  of 
women  is  so  small  as  to  be  of  little  interest."  The  Bureau  of 
Labor  and  the  Immigration  Bureau  offer  positions  of  unusual 
interest  to  women  interested  in  economic  and  sociological  prob- 
lems, and  opportunities  for  doing  special  research  work  along 
many  lines.  This  is  also  true  of  the  Bureau  of  Corporations, 
which  up  to  the  present  time,  however,  has  been  closed  to  women. 

According  to  occupation,  the  majority  of  women  office-holders 
have  held  clerical  positions:  7,346,  or  7.2  per  cent.,  of  the  Gov- 
ernment clerks  are  women;  159,  or  2.4  per  cent.,  of  the  profes- 
sional, technical,  and  scientific  experts  are  women;  24,  or  1.4 
per  cent.,  of  the  Government  executive  positions  are  held  by 
women;  90,  or  1.3  per  cent.,  of  the  employees  engaged  in  mechani- 
cal occupations  are  women;  while  women  holding  sub-clerical 
or  laboring  positions  number  5,461,  or  20.3  per  cent,  of  all  per- 
sons so  employed. 

More  than  half  of  the  women  federal  officials,  or  51.7  per  cent., 
are  located  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  while  only  13.7  per  cent, 
of  the  men  officials  have  their  headquarters  at  the  Capitol.  So 
as  far  as  women  are  concerned,  the  federal  posts  away  from 
Washington  have  been  relatively  unimportant. 

As  to  salaries,  Mr.  Folz  in  "The  Federal  Civil  Service  as  a 
Career"  states  that  "the  pay  of  a  woman  office-holder  is  con- 
siderably more  than  that  received  for  parallel  services  elsewhere. 
.  .  .  The  highest  pay  of  women  office-holders  runs  from  $1600  to 
$2000  a  year.  The  positions  paying  such  salaries  entail  con- 
siderable ability,  either  educational  or  executive;  they  include 
such  posts  as  those  of  translator,  law  clerk,  librarian,  fore- 
woman, superintendent,  expert  statistician,  stenographer,  in- 
spector, director,  mathematician,  and  similar  places,  which  in 
business  life  pay  from  $1200-$1500  a  year.  ...  In  matters  of 
promotion,  women's  chances  are  also  quite  equal  to  men's  up  to 
$1800,  beyond  which  sum  women  seldom  rise.  .  .  .  The  limit  of 
promotion  appears  to  end  abruptly  and  unequivocally  at  $2000, 
which  figure  few  attain." 


6  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

In  the  report  of  the  Civil  Service  Commissioner  for  1903-04 
the  following  salaries  are  quoted: — 

Of  the  13,322  women  holding  federal  positions, 

6,333  received  less  than  $720  per  annum. 

941        "       between   $720-  840  "  " 

172        "  "  840-  900  "  " 

1,066        "  "  900-1,000  "  " 

1,094        "  "        1,000-1,200  "  " 

1,114        "  "        1,200-1,400  "  " 

400        "  "        1,400-1,600  "  " 

110        "  "        1,600-1,800  "  " 

17        "          $1,800  and  over. 

The  opportunities  for  advancement  according  to  Mr.  Folz  seem 
best  in  the  following  positions: — 

1.  Government  Engineers  in  the  Coast  Survey,  Geodetic  Survey, 
Geological  Survey,  and  the  Land  Office.     For  these  positions 
college  and  professional  training  is  necessary,  and  the  chances 
for  promotion  are  good. 

2.  Technical   Clerks  specializing   in  botany,  geology,  geodesy, 
meteorology,    statistics,    zoology,    entomology,    medicine,    archi- 
tecture, etc.     For  these  positions  a  college  education  is  a  great  ad- 
vantage, if  not  an  absolute  necessity.     An  ability  to  read  French, 
German,  Italian,  Spanish,  or  Portuguese,  is  an  asset,  as  well  as  the 
almost  indispensable  knowledge  of  stenography  and  typewriting. 

3.  Government  Stenographer,  leading  to  such  positions  as  chief 
clerk,  executive  secretary,  and  assistant  secretary. 

4.  Government  Editor  and  Censor  of  Correspondence  in  Govern- 
ment bureaus.     This  position  requires  special  training  in  English 
composition,  proof-reading,  etc. 

5.  Government  Translator.    Just  at  present  there  is  a  special 
demand  for  students  who  can  read  the  Oriental  languages,  espe- 
cially Chinese  and  Japanese. 

6.  Government  Librarian,  with   some  special  training  in  cata- 
loguing, filing,  and  library  methods.     The  salaries  for  these  posi- 
tions range  from  $1,200  to  $1,800. 

7.  Government  Statistician,  with  special  training  in  the  gather- 
ing, tabulating,  and  analyzing  of  statistics.     The  salaries  range 
from  $1,200  to  $3,000. 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC   SERVICE  7 

8.  Patent  Investigator,  for  which  a  college  education  is  absolutely 
necessary,  and  some  special  professional  training  highly  desirable. 
The  salaries  for  these  positions  range  from  $1,500  to  $2,700. 

9.  Agricultural   Expert,  with  some   special  knowledge  of   the 
chemistry  of  soils,  horticulture,  plant  diseases,  intensive  farming 
methods,  or  forestry.     These  positions  are  continually  growing 
in  importance  with  the  extension  of  the  State  Bureaus  of  Agri- 
culture and  the  instalment  of  research  and  experiment  stations. 
Male  agricultural  experts  receive  $3,000  to  $4,000  a  year,  and 
are  in  direct  line  for  commanding  more  lucrative  positions  in  pri- 
vate enterprises.    The  reviving  interest  in  agriculture,  especially 
on  the  part  of  women,  seems  likely  in  the  immediate  future  to 
lead  them  to  consider  the  federal  offices,  and  to  apply  for  them 
in  greater  numbers  than  in  the  past. 

The  Federal  Service,  therefore,  offers  to  women  certain  oppor- 
tunities for  congenial  work  which  should  not  be  overlooked  by 
the  college  graduate  whose  vocation  is  not  teaching.  The  testi- 
mony of  the  women  who  are  working  in  the  government  service 
seems  to  be  that  all  bureaus  and  departments  tend  to  advance 
their  own  people.  Once  the  examinations  are  passed  and  the 
appointment  received,  advancement  is  certain,  if  not  rapid.  A 
college  woman  who  is  doing  advanced  research  work  in  the  Bureau 
of  Labor  writes:  "Women  stand  a  particularly  good  chance  in 
Government  work,  because  the  salaries  are  not  sufficiently  large 
to  induce  the  best  men  to  enter  the  service,  but  are  better  than  the 
salaries  received  by  women  in  other  non-federal  callings.  You 
have,  therefore,  capable  women  and  less  capable  men  in  many 
Government  positions." 

Candidates  for  Federal  positions  should  write  directly  to  the 
Civil  Service  Commission  in  Washington  for  a  manual  of  ex- 
aminations, application  blanks,  and  a  schedule  of  dates  and 
places  where  the  examinations  are  held.  Candidates  should 
also  plan  to  take  the  examinations  at  least  a  year  and  a  half 
before  they  hope  for  an  appointment,  and,  when  it  seems  ad- 
visable, to  present  themselves  for  examination  in  the  require- 
ments for  more  than  one  position. 

Opportunities  for  women  in  the  State  and  Municipal  Civil 
Service  vary  considerably  according  to  State  and  city.  Many 


8  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

positions — clerical,  educational,  literary,  technical,  administrative, 
and  executive — are  open  to  women  who  pass  competitive  exami- 
nations. For  definite  information  regarding  the  positions  avail- 
able in  any  given  State  or  city,  it  will  be  necessary  to  refer  to  the 
Civil  Service  Commission  of  that  State  or  city  or  to  the  proper 
authorities  in  the  department  about  which  information  is  desired. 


THE  SERVICE  OF  POLICE  MATRONS 

ALICE  L.  WOODBRIDGE 

AGENT  FOB  THE  WOMEN'S  PRISON  ASSOCIATION,  NEW  YORK 

The  duties  of  police  matrons  are:  to  keep  the  prison  in  order 
after  it  has  been  thoroughly  cleansed  once  a  day  by  a  cleaner; 
to  search  all  women  prisoners,  conduct  them  to  their  cells,  and 
guard  them  during  their  detention  in  the  station  house;  to  care 
for  all  sick  and  injured  women  pending  the  arrival  of  an  ambu- 
lance; to  search  for  identification  the  bodies  of  unknown  dead; 
and  to  care  for  all  lost  women  and  children  brought  to  the 
station.  In  the  city  of  Greater  New  York  police  matrons  are 
members  of  the  uniformed  force.  They  wear  a  uniform  and 
shield,  and  are  frequently  called  upon  to  do  detective  duty. 

There  are  70  police  matrons  in  the  city  of  Greater  New  York. 
No  openings  occur  except  on  the  death,  resignation,  or  dismissal 
of  a  matron,  or  upon  the  designation  of  an  additional  station 
house  for  the  reception  of  women  prisoners.  Such  openings  are 
filled  from  an  eligible  list  filed  by  the  Civil  Service  Examiners 
once  in  four  years.  All  persons  included  in  this  list  must  be  at 
least  thirty  and  not  over  forty-five  years  old.  They  must  have 
passed  a  severe  physical  examination,  and  a  mental  test  adapted 
to  the  ordinary  standards  of  intelligence.  No  qualifications 
other  than  perfect  physical  condition,  good  moral  character,  and 
ordinary  intelligence,  are  required,  although  a  knowledge  of 
languages  counts  in  examination.  As  a  new  Civil  Service  list 
has  recently  been  published,  there  will  be  no  opportunity  for 
examination  for  almost  three  years. 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC   SERVICE  9 

Two  matrons  are  assigned  to  each  station  house.  These  ma- 
trons alternate  weekly  between  ten  hours  of  day  duty  and 
fourteen  hours  night  duty,  but  remain  on  duty  twenty-four  hours 
every  other  Sunday,  in  order  to  obtain  two  full  Sundays  off  in 
the  month.  They  are  allowed  one  day  of  each  month  for  rest. 
Newly  appointed  matrons  serve  three  months'  probation  and  are 
then  duly  appointed.  The  salary  is  $1,000  per  year  for  all,  re- 
gardless of  time  of  appointment,  with  retirement  on  half -pay  after 
twenty  years  of  service.  Police  matrons  who  so  desire  may, 
however,  continue  in  service  for  twenty-five  years  if  found  physi- 
cally and  mentally  able  to  perform  their  duties. 

The  class  and  condition  of  the  women  prisoners  brought  to  our 
station  houses  are  such  that  any  reformatory  work  among  them 
is  nearly  or  quite  impossible,  but  women  of  high  intelligence 
might  be  of  invaluable  assistance  in  looking  after  their  physical 
needs.  The  position  is  unsuitable  for  a  young  woman  because  of 
the  language  and  condition  of  the  prisoners  and  the  surroundings 
in  the  station;  but  the  people  of  New  York  would  be  glad  to  see 
women  in  middle  life,  of  high  character  and  intelligence,  above 
temptation,  and  imbued  with  a  practical  missionary  spirit,  seek 
these  positions. 


WOMEN  IN  PROBATION  WORK 
MAUDE  E.  MINER 

SECRETARY  OP  THE  NEW  YORK  PROBATION  ASSOCIATION 

Probation  gives  the  convicted  boy  or  girl,  man  or  woman,  a 
chance  outside  of  an  institution.  It  is  a  process  of  character- 
building  under  the  guidance  of  a  probation  officer  who  is  a  coun- 
sellor and  friend. 

CHARACTER  AND  SCOPE  OF  THE  WORK. 

The  probation  officer  is  busy  during  the  hours  of  the  court 
session  listening  to  the  stories  of  defendants  as  they  explain  the 
circumstances  which  brought  them  into  conflict  with  the  law. 


10  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

Before  deciding  what  is  the  best  thing  to  do  for  the  prisoner,  it  is 
necessary  to  know  the  whole  story,  and  in  investigating,  the 
probation  officer  finds  her  way  up  the  tenement  stairs  into  hun- 
dreds of  homes  all  over  the  city.  If  the  conditions  are  favorable 
for  helping  the  girl  or  woman  without  commitment  to  a  reforma- 
tory, the  probation  officer  recommends  that  leniency  be  shown. 
Sentence,  or  the  execution  of  the  sentence,  is  suspended,  and  the 
defendant  may  then  be  released  under  the  care  of  the  probation 
officer  on  condition  that  the  probationer  reports  as  directed  by 
the  magistrate  and  is  of  good  behavior.  During  the  probation 
period  of  three  or  six  months  the  probation  officer  supervises  her 
conduct,  visits  her  at  her  home,  and  helps  her  in  every  way  she 
can. 

In  a  single  night  from  50  to  150  girls  and  women  may  be  seen 
passing  before  the  bar  of  justice  at  the  Night  Court  in  New  York 
City.  Girls  sixteen  years  of  age  and  over  arrested  for  intoxica- 
tion, larceny,  fighting,  associating  with  dissolute  and  vicious  per- 
sons, and  soliciting  on  the  streets  for  purposes  of  prostitution, 
are  brought  to  this  court  from  all  parts  of  Manhattan  and  the 
Bronx.  To  provide  a  temporary  home  for  the  many  girls  and 
women  released  on  probation,  who  had  no  home  or  who  were 
anxious  to  leave  their  wretched  environment,  Waverley  House 
was  opened,  February  1,  1908,  at  165  West  10th  Street.  Here 
the  girls  may  stay  for  a  few  days,  while  the  probation  officer 
learns  if  their  stories  are  true,  arranges  to  send  them  to  the  hos- 
pital or  to  their  homes  in  other  cities,  or  finds  suitable  work 
for  them.  It  gives  an  opportunity  to  win  the  girl's  confidence, 
and  at  times  to  help  in  the  prosecution  of  the  one  responsible 
for  her  downfall.  The  New  York  Probation  Association,  organ- 
ized in  May,  1908,  assumed  the  maintenance  of  Waverley 
House  and  arranged  for  a  broader  program  of  work.  It  now  has 
an  Employment  Bureau  for  probationers,  and  July  1,  1909, 
opened  a  Summer  Home  to  supplement  the  work  at  Waverley 
House. 

TRAINING  FOR  THE  WORK. 

To  enter  as  a  paid  probation  officer  in  any  city,  it  is  essen- 
tial to  have  had  experience  or  training  in  probation  or  a  kindred 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  11 

line  of  work.  One  needs  to  test  her  own  ability,  to  know 
whether  or  not  she  is  skilful  in  dealing  with  defective  character 
and  whether  she  is  sufficiently  interested  in  the  work  to  devote 
herself  to  it.  It  is  also  necessary  to  know  the  charitable  and 
institutional  resources  of  the  city  in  which  one  is  to  work.  A 
course  at  the  New  York  School  of  Philanthropy  affords  an  ex- 
cellent opportunity  for  visiting  different  institutions  and  for  get- 
ting an  outlook  over  different  kinds  of  social  work  and  experience 
in  the  practical  office  details.  Some  students  during  their  Senior 
year  at  college  or  during  the  summer  months  gain  practical  ex- 
perience in  juvenile  probation  work  by  volunteering  their  services 
to  the  paid  officials.  Others,  while  studying  at  the  School  of 
Philanthropy  or  doing  graduate  work  at  the  university  or  while 
engaged  in  settlement  work,  devote  some  time  to  volunteer  pro- 
bation or  parole  work.  There  are  reformatory  institutions  which 
welcome  students  just  graduated  from  college  as  workers,  and 
institutional  experience  of  that  kind  is  valuable  as  training  for 
the  position  of  probation  officer.  Experience  for  at  least  one 
year  as  a  paid  or  volunteer  worker  in  a  society  or  institution 
dealing  with  delinquents,  where  there  is  opportunity  for  investi- 
gation and  for  personal  work,  is  necessary  for  one  who  wishes  to 
become  a  probation  officer. 

PROBATION  OPPORTUNITIES  IN  NEW  YORK. 

In  Greater  New  York  there  are  27  paid  women  probation  officers, 
24  of  whom  receive  compensation  from  public  funds.  There  are 
few  openings  for  workers  with  juveniles  in  New  York  City,  as 
there  are  no  official  probation  officers  in  the  Children's  Court  of 
the  Borough  of  Manhattan.  Two  representatives  of  different 
societies,  one  a  volunteer  and  the  other  a  paid  worker,  are 
appointed  to  do  probation  work  in  the  Children's  Court  of 
Brooklyn.  There  are  23  women  probation  officers  for  adults  in 
the  Magistrates'  Courts,  8  in  the  Boroughs  of  Manhattan  and 
Bronx,  and  15  in  the  Boroughs  of  Brooklyn,  Queens,  and  Rich- 
mond. Appointments  to  the  positions  in  the  Magistrates'  Courts 
are  made  from  a  civil  service  list  resulting  from  a  competitive 
examination  held  in  February,  1906.  According  to  civil  ser- 
vice rules,  appointments  can  be  made  from  one  list  only 


12  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

during  a  period  of  four  years,  so  that  another  examination 
is  due. 

There  are  3  paid  women  probation  officers  in  the  trial  courts 
of  Special  and  General  Sessions,  one  each  in  Special  Sessions, 
Boroughs  of  Manhattan  and  Brooklyn,  and  one  in  the  Court  of 
General  Sessions,  Manhattan.  Some  of  the  organizations  which 
aid  in  probation  work  employ  women  workers, — the  Brooklyn 
Juvenile  Probation  Association,  the  Catholic  Probation  League, 
and  the  New  York  Probation  Association. 

New  openings  for  probation  officers  occur  constantly  in  other 
cities  and  counties  of  New  York  State,  and  examinations  are 
held  from  time  to  time  as  provision  for  salaries  is  made.  Buf- 
falo, Rochester,  Syracuse,  Utica,  Yonkers,  and  several  other 
cities  have  paid  probation  officers.  Altogether  there  are  in  New 
York  State  305  men  and  women  probation  officers,  including 
both  salaried  and  volunteer  workers,  over  100  of  whom  are  either 
publicly  or  privately  salaried. 

SALARIES. 

The  salaries  paid  to  probation  officers  in  the  Magistrates* 
Courts  of  New  York  City  are  not  commensurate  with  the  char- 
acter of  work  that  should  be  required.  Eighteen  women  receive 
$900  per  year,  and  five  $600  per  year.  The  salary  of  the  two 
women  probation  officers  in  the  Courts  of  Special  Sessions, 
Boroughs  of  Manhattan  and  Brooklyn,  is  $1,200.  In  other  cities 
in  the  State  the  salaries  range  from  $600  to  $1,200  per  year. 
The  highest  salary  paid  to  a  woman  probation  officer  in  New 
York  State  is  $1,200. 

The  real  value  of  probation  work  has  not  yet  been  fully  rec- 
ognized, and  where  there  is  one  opening  in  the  field  to-day,  within 
five  years  there  will  be  twenty  or  more.  It  remains  for  those  who 
are  doing  the  work  to  do  it  so  efficiently  that  cities  will  amply 
provide  for  it  in  their  budgets  of  expense  and  that  every  State 
will  have  on  its  statute  books  probation  laws  for  juveniles  and 
adults. 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  13 


PROBATION    WORK    IN    THE   JUVENILE   COURT 

IRENE  COWAN  MARSHALL 

FOKMERLT  PROBATION  OFFICER,  PITTSBURQ 

Pennsylvania  law  provides  for  probation  for  adults  tried  in 
Criminal  Court  and  for  children  under  sixteen  tried  in  Juvenile 
Court.  In  Allegheny  County,  probation  work  is  done  only  in 
Juvenile  Court. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  probation  officer  to  investigate  all  cases 
before  the  hearing  in  court.  In  a  given  case  the  officer  must 
learn  the  home  conditions  of  the  child,  the  character  of  his  parents, 
neighborhood  conditions,  his  school  or  work  record,  and,  in  fact, 
anything  and  everything  that  will  enable  her  to  understand  what 
has  made  the  child  what  he  is.  The  probation  officer  must  inves- 
tigate the  prosecutor's  side  of  the  story,  and  be  able  to  give  the 
court  an  accurate,  impartial  statement  of  the  case.  When,  as 
is  generally  done  with  a  "first  offender"  if  the  home  conditions 
are  at  all  possible,  the  child  is  returned  to  his  home  on  probation, 
the  officer  must  look  after  him,  become  a  friend  of  the  family, 
and  in  every  way  possible  help  and  encourage  the  child  to  do  what 
is  right.  She  must  report  to  the  court  the  progress'  of  the  child. 

Work  of  this  kind  requires  unlimited  patience,  an  equal  amount 
of  good  judgment,  and  very  great  tact,  with  no  small  amount  of 
courage.  It  is  work  that  becomes  so  interesting  as  to  make  the 
hard  places  seem  easy,  but  a  strong  constitution,  equal  to  the 
strain  of  great  responsibility,  is  necessary. 

No  previous  training  for  the  work  has  been  required  on  the  part 
of  a  new  probation  officer.  She  works  a  month  on  trial  for  $40, 
then,  if  suited  to  the  work,  is  appointed  probation  officer  by  the 
court  at  a  salary  of  $700  per  year.  The  second  year  she  receives 
$780,  the  third  year  $840,  and  the  fourth  year  $900,  when  all 
advance  ceases.  Previous  training  in  almost  any  line  of  social 
work,  especially  work  dealing  with  children,  would  be  helpful. 


14  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 


STATE    CHILD    SAVING 
MARY  W.  DEWSON 

SUPERINTENDENT  OF  THE  PROBATION  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  STATE  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOL, 

MASSACHUSETTS 

Institutional  training  is  necessary  for  delinquent  girls  whom 
neither  court  probation  officers  nor  child-placing  societies  can 
keep  safely  in  their  own  homes  or  in  the  homes  of  other  people. 
In  the  institution  the  girls  are  trained  through  their  hands  by 
housework,  laundry  work,  cooking,  sewing,  gardening,  and  sloyd, 
sports,  gymnastics,  and  further  school  work.  The  aim  of  the 
officer  must  be  to  send  out  her  girls  not  only  capable  of  making 
themselves  useful,  but  possessing  something  of  the  good  every- 
day virtues,  and  filled  with  the  standards  and  ideals  of  living  and 
of  conduct  belonging  to  plain,  hard-working,  self-respecting  people. 

When  the  girls  are  put  on  parole,  they  become  the  responsi- 
bility of  a  visitor  under  the  Probation  Department,  who  finds 
homes  for  them  in  good  families,  where  they  hold  much  the  posi- 
tion of  old-fashioned  "help."  Some  of  the  girls,  after  a  while, 
become  dressmakers,  attendants,  and  so  on.  Later  they  may 
go  back  to  their  own  homes.  For  these  girls  between  the  years 
of  fifteen  and  twenty-one  the  problems  of  life  are  especially  com- 
plicated by  their  intense  interest  in  young  men.  They  are,  more- 
over, handicapped  by  great  temperamental  difficulties,  by  un- 
formed characters,  by  the  lack  of  much  native  ability,  and  by 
poor  habits  only  temporarily  arrested  by  the  training  at  the 
school.  The  visitor  must  arrange  and  rearrange  conditions  so 
that  the  fight  shall  always  be  possible  and  hopeful.  She  must 
keep  up  the  courage  and  the  interest  of  the  fighter  and  of  her 
employers,  who  will  often  lose  heart.  She  must  be  capable,  too, 
of  enlisting  the  interest  of  other  people  in  her  charges,  as  well  as 
of  gaining  the  co-operation  of  the  relatives,  never  forgetting  that 
her  difficulties  are  bound  up  with  the  big  social  problem  with 
which  she  should  be  familiar. 

A  natural  aptitude  for  visiting  these  difficult  girls  is  essential. 
Aside  from  that,  any  training  that  has  developed  the  visitor  on 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  15 

the  points  just  mentioned  would  be  an  advantage.  It  would  be 
a  detriment  if  the  work  that  she  has  done  has  tended  to  make 
her  set  and  dry,  a  routine  worker  who  mistakes  conformity  for 
growth.  An  inspiring  teacher  has  had  a  good  preparation  for 
visiting.  Special  training  is  given  the  visitor  through  consul- 
tation over  the  daily  perplexities  as  they  arise.  Owing  to  the 
out-of-door  life,  the  occupation  is  healthful;  it  requires  a  well- 
balanced  rather  than  a  robust  person.  Some  women  are  not  too 
young  to  begin  when  they  are  twenty -four  years  old  nor  some  too 
old  to  start  at  forty. 

The  State  Board  of  Charity,  Department  of  Minor  Wards,  and 
the  City  of  Boston,  Children's  Department,  have  visitors  for 
children  and  babies  as  well  as  for  girls,  and  what  has  been  said 
of  the  parole  work  applies  equally  to  their  departments,  except 
that  their  proportion  of  very  difficult  girls  is  much  smaller,  and 
the  work  with  the  younger  children  is  more  simple.  A  woman 
who  is  inadequate  for  older  girls  might  be  a  success  with  children. 
For  a  visitor  of  little  children  a  nurse's  training  is  excellent.  For 
the  babies  under  three  the  State  Board  employs  two  physicians 
as  visitors,  and  the  city  a  trained  nurse. 

The  superintendent  of  the  State  Industrial  School  appoints  her 
officers  without  restriction.  The  visitors  for  the  State  Board, 
the  City,  and  the  Probation  Department  are  under  the  civil 
service.  Information  as  to  when  the  next  examination  will  be 
held  may  be  had  from  the  Civil  Service  Commission,  State  House, 
Boston.  The  common  sense,  insight,  and  imagination  of  the  ap- 
plicant are  tested  by  such  questions  as : — 

"Margaret  has  been  wayward  and  in  a  reformatory  institution.  She 
is  now  sixteen,  and  has  been  placed  by  the  department  in  a  good  home, 
where  she  can  earn  her  living  by  housework.  You  find,  as  you  become 
acquainted,  that  she  dislikes  the  work  bitterly,  and  does  it  in  a  lazy, 
half-hearted  way,  although  she  seems  a  girl  of  force  and  power.  What 
are  the  things  you  would  do?  And  why?"* 

Visitors  for  the  City  of  Boston  must  have  lived  in  Boston  for 
at  least  one  year  previous  to  the  examination.  The  State  visitors 
are  not  restricted  by  residence. 

*  Civil  service  examination  held  September,  1907. 


16  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

The  salaries  at  the  State  Industrial  School  range  from  $300 
to  $1,800  with  board  and  lodging.  Visitors  receive  from  $600 
to  $1,750  without  maintenance. 

The  State  Board  of  Charity  employs  26  women  in  the  care  of 
its  minor  wards;  the  Probation  Department,  9;  the  State  Indus- 
trial School,  45;  and  the  City  of  Boston,  Children's  Depart- 
ment, 5. 

There  is  a  particular  zest  in  public  service.  The  State  does  the 
biggest  block  of  child-saving  work,  and  to  do  it  as  effectively  as  the 
private  societies  is  a  challenge. 


REFORMATORY   WORK   FOR   GIRLS  AND  WOMEN 
KATHARINE  BEMENT  DAVIS 

SUPERINTENDENT,  STATE  REFORMATORY  FOR  WOMEN,  BEDFORD,  NEW  YORK 

The  State  of  New  York  takes  precedence  over  every  other  State 
in  the  Union  in  the  provision  made  for  reformatory  treatment  of 
women  and  girls.  It  now  supports  three  such  institutions, — the 
State  Training  School  for  Girls  at  Hudson,  the  Western  House  of 
Refuge  for  Women  at  Albion,  and  the  State  Reformatory  for 
Women  at  Bedford.  Hudson  cares  for  something  over  300  girls 
between  the  ages  of  twelve  and  sixteen.  Bedford  and  Albion  take 
charge  of  nearly  600  women  between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and 
thirty,  committed  for  all  offences  except  murder  in  the  first  and 
second  degree,  for  an  indefinite  term  not  to  exceed  three  years. 
Each  of  these  three  institutions  is  officered  by  women. 

With  the  exception  of  the  position  of  superintendent  at  the 
State  Training  School  for  Girls  at  Hudson,  all  positions  for  women 
in  each  of  these  institutions  are  under  civil  service  rules.  The 
examinations  are  not  difficult,  and  should  not  bar  any  woman  of 
fair  education  and  training  from  entering  the  service. 

The  salaries  range  from  $1,800  a  year  for  the  superintendents 
to  $30  a  month  for  officers  in  charge  of  the  laundry  and  sewing- 
rooms.  Maintenance  is  in  addition  to  this,  and  means  room, 
board,  and  laundry.  Each  of  these  institutions  has  a  resident 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  17 

physician  at  a  salary  of  $1,200,  and  a  woman  steward  at  a  salary 
of  $1,000,  one  or  two  parole  officers  at  $720  each,  and  a  marshal 
at  $720,  a  head-teacher  at  $600,  and  so  on.  Matrons  of  cottages 
receive  $40  a  month,  and  assistant  matrons  $35  a  month.  It  wiH 
be  seen  that  the  salaries  paid  in  the  upper  ranks  are  equal  to  or 
above  the  average  paid  to  school-teachers.  Comparatively  few 
college  women  have  entered  the  State  service  in  these  institutions, 
although  there  is  a  growing  number  who  are  filling  positions  in 
other  branches  of  the  State  service.  Two  out  of  the  three  super- 
intendents, two  of  the  physicians,  and  several  teachers  are  college 
women. 

The  drawback  to  the  positions  is,  for  most  women,  the  remote- 
ness of  the  institutions  from  large  cities.  The  officers  are  thrown, 
more  or  less,  upon  themselves  for  companionship,  and  must  de- 
pend upon  their  own  resources  for  amusement.  On  the  other 
hand  there  is  a  growing  demand  for  trained  workers  in  these 
lines  in  other  States,  and  women  of  more  than  average  ability 
are  pretty  sure,  sooner  or  later,  to  receive  promotion,  if  not  in 
this  State,  then  by  offer  of  better  work  in  another. 

In  the  educational  departments  there  is  a  great  opportunity 
for  original  work,  as  there  are  no  cut-and-dried  educational 
methods  employed,  and  the  individual  teacher  must  adapt  her 
methods  to  meet  the  needs  of  her  individual  pupils.  I  know  of 
no  other  openings  along  educational  lines  where  at  the  present 
time  there  is  such  a  virgin  field  for  constructive  work.  For  stu- 
dents interested  in  problems  of  abnormalities — psychological  and 
physiological — there  is  also  an  abundant  opportunity  for  research 
work  as  well  as  for  work  along  various  social  lines,  although  it  is 
to  be  said  that  in  regular  positions  the  duties  are  so  exacting  as 
to  leave  little  time  for  study. 

An  increasing  number  of  young  women  graduates  from  our 
colleges  are  fitting  themselves  for  social  work.  It  would  seem 
that  there  should  be  a  certain  percentage  of  women  whose  talents 
fit  them  for  this  kind  of  work  who  would  be  drawn  to  it  in  much 
the  same  spirit  with  which  workers  enter  the  social  settlements 
or  even  the  foreign  mission  fields. 


18  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 


THE    STATE    CHARITIES   AID    ASSOCIATION    OF 
THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

MARY  VIDA  CLARK 

ASSISTANT   SECRETARY 

GENERAL  WORK. 

The  executive  staff  consists  of  a  secretary,  three  assistant  sec- 
retaries, and  the  employees  of  the  different  departments  men- 
tioned below.  One  of  the  assistant  secretaries  at  the  present  time 
is  a  woman  and  a  college  graduate. 

CHILDREN'S  DEPARTMENT. 

An  agency  for  placing  out  children  in  family  homes  is  main- 
tained at  the  central  office,  and  employs  a  superintendent  and  four 
assistant  agents,  all  women.  The  work  of  the  agents  is  to  travel 
about  the  State,  investigating  the  character  and  circumstances 
of  families  who  have  applied  for  children,  taking  children  to 
families  whose  applications  have  been  approved,  and  visiting 
children  in  their  foster  homes  after  they  have  been  placed  out. 
An  agent  is  also  employed  whose  special  work  it  is  to  investigate 
the  circumstances  of  children  in  institutions  in  different  parts 
of  the  State,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  they  can  be  placed  out 
in  free  family  homes. 

The  association  has  nine  county  or  city  agents  for  dependent 
children,  at  the  present  time,  in  different  parts  of  the  State,  and 
is  gradually  increasing  the  number  by  starting  the  work  in  other 
cities  and  counties.  Such  an  agent  does  practically  all  the  work 
necessary  in  connection  with  children  who  are  or  who  are  likely 
to  become  public  dependants.  She  investigates  the  circumstances 
of  the  children  who  are  maintained  in  institutions  at  public  ex- 
pense, and  returns  to  relatives  those  whose  relatives  are  found  to 
be  morally  fit  and  financially  able  to  care  for  them;  places  out  in 
free  family  homes,  in  co-operation  with  the  agency  at  the  central 
office,  such  children  as  are  suitable  for  such  disposition;  investi- 
gates applications  for  the  commitment  of  children  to  institutions 
as  public  charges,  and  advises  the  public  officials  as  to  whether 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  19 

or  not  they  should  be  accepted.*  In  many  localities  these  agents 
are  intrusted  by  public  Poor  Law  officers  with  a  large  part  of  their 
work  in  connection  with  the  relief  of  the  poor  in  their  homes. 
In  many  counties  these  agents  act  also  as  county  probation  offi- 
cers on  appointment  by  the  county  judge. 

At  the  central  office  there  is  also  an  Agency  for  Assisting  and 
Providing  Situations  for  Mothers  with  Babies,  which  employs  an 
agent  and  an  assistant  agent.  The  work  of  this  agency  is  to  enable 
homeless  women  to  keep  their  children  with  them  by  placing 
them  as  servants  in  carefully  selected  homes. 

All  the  employees  of  the  Children's  Department  are  women, 
and  about  half  of  those  employed  at  the  present  time  are  college 
graduates.  The  salaries  range  from  $600  to  $1,200  a  year. 

TUBERCULOSIS  DEPARTMENT. 

The  Tuberculosis  Department  is  carrying  on  a  campaign  for  the 
prevention  of  tuberculosis  throughout  the  State  of  New  York  out- 
side of  New  York  City.  Of  the  six  non-clerical  employees  only  two 
at  the  present  time  are  women,  but  it  is  possible  that  more  women 
may  be  employed  in  future.  The  work  of  this  department  is  to 
conduct  campaigns  and  organize  committees  in  different  parts  of 
the  State,  to  address  meetings,  to  write  articles  for  the  press,  and  to 
correspond  with  people  all  over  the  State  with  regard  to  the  work. 

*  Similar  work  is  carried  on  by  the  City  of  New  York  and  the  State  under 
civil  service  regulations. 

The  superintendent  reports  that  there  are  11  women  employed  by  the 
Children's  Bureau  of  the  Department  of  Public  Charities  of  the  City  of  New 
York  as  Examiners  of  Charitable  Institutions.  "  The  duties  of  the  position  are  to 
investigate  the  applications  for  the  commitment  and  discharge  of  children.  In  ad- 
dition to  this  routine  or  current  work  of  the  Bureau,  these  Examiners  also  reinvesti- 
gate  the  circumstances  of  the  families  of  children  in  institutions  in  compliance  with 
the  rules  of  the  State  Board  of  Charities  governing  the  retention  of  children  in 
institutions.  The  salary  of  an  Examiner  of  Charitable  Institutions  is  $1,200  per 
annum,  and  appointment  of  the  same  is  subject  to  Civil  Service  examination." 

The  Twenty-sixth  Report  of  the  New  York  State  Civil  Service  Commission 
names  4  women  inspectors  under  the  State  Board  of  Charities,  2  with  a  salary  of 
$1,200,  4  with  a  salary  of  $900.  A  letter  from  the  secretary  of  the  board  gives  their 
duties  as  follows:  "The  homes  in  which  dependent  children  are  placed  out  by 
poor-law  officers  are  visited  and  inspected  regularly  by  women  inspectors  of  this 
board,  and  in  addition  our  women  inspectors  visit  almshouses,  hospitals,  asylums 
for  children,  homes  for  the  aged,  and  other  types  of  charitable  institutions." — ED. 


20  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

NEW  YORK  CITY  VISITING  COMMITTEE. 

This  committee  of  the  association  visits,  inspects,  and  en- 
deavors to  improve  the  public  charitable  institutions  of  the  city 
of  New  York.  It  does  most  of  its  work  through  volunteers.  A 
woman  assistant  secretary  is  employed  to  direct  the  work  of  these 
volunteer  visitors  and  to  assist  in  the  preparation  of  the  reports. 

A  college  training  is  desirable  for  most  of  the  positions  men- 
tioned above,  but  it  is  not  essential.  Other  things  being  equal, 
college  graduates  who  have  had  the  advantage  of  courses  in  eco- 
nomics and  sociology  are  considered  somewhat  better  fitted  for 
the  work  than  those  who  have  not  had  such  courses.  The  im- 
portant qualifications,  however,  for  practically  all  the  positions 
are  good  judgment,  tact,  ability  to  speak  in  public,  interest  in 
the  work,  and  a  capacity  for  seeing  its  larger  aspects.  It  is  es- 
pecially important  that  those  who  are  employed  in  most  of  these 
positions  should  be  able  to  get  on  well  with  all  sorts  and  condi- 
tions of  people,  for  their  work  brings  them  in  contact  with  a  great 
variety  of  men  and  women,  including  public  officials,  officers  of 
institutions,  and  philanthropic  citizens.  For  most  of  the  posi- 
tions it  is  possible  to  secure  women  who  are  both  college  graduates 
and  graduates  of  a  school  of  philanthropy,  and  women  with  such 
qualifications  are  preferred  if  they  have  the  essential  personal 
qualifications. 

PLAYGROUND  WORK 

JOSEPH  LEE 

FIRST  VICE-PRESIDENT,  PLAYGROUND  ASSOCIATION  OF  AMERICA 

THE  DEMAND. 

Playgrounds  are  increasing  not  only  in  Massachusetts,  but  in 
the  United  States.  By  an  act  of  the  Massachusetts  legislature 
in  1908,  42  cities  and  towns  of  over  10,000  inhabitants  were  asked 
to  vote  on  the  desirability  of  maintaining  playgrounds.  Sixteen 
towns  and  24  cities  have  voted,  under  the  act,  to  maintain  play- 
grounds, one  for  the  first  10,000  and  one  for  every  additional 
20,000  inhabitants,  such  action  to  take  effect  in  July,  1910. 
Many  smaller  towns  also  have  taken  or  are  taking  steps  to  es- 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE 


21 


tablish  play  centres.  The  Year  Book  of  the  Playground  Asso- 
ciation of  America  gives  the  following  summary  of  "cities  in  the 
United  States  having  a  population  of  5,000  and  over  maintain- 
ing supervised  playgrounds  in  1909." 


North  Atlantic 
States 

South  Atlantic 
States 

North  Central 
States 

Cities  having  playgrounds  . 
Population  of  cities  having 
playgrounds      .    . 

149 

10,785,710 

17 
1,244,774 

123 
6,659,021 

Aggregate  number  of  play- 
grounds in  1909    .... 
Aggregate  number  of  em- 
ployees in  1909     .... 
Aggregate   expenditures   in 
1909    

873(123) 
2,434(119) 
$515,412(101) 

128(17) 
291(17) 
$77,772(12) 

416(87) 
868(84) 
$631,430(49) 

South  Central 
States 

Western  States 

United  States 

Cities  having  playgrounds  . 
Population  of  cities  having 

23 

24 

336 

playgrounds  

1,089,601 

1,081,653 

20,860,759 

Aggregate  number  of  play- 

grounds in  1909    .... 

70(21) 

48(19) 

1,535(267) 

Aggregate  number  of  em- 

ployees in  1909     .... 

79(21) 

84(18) 

5,756(259) 

Aggregate  expenditures  in 

1909    

$30,000(12) 

$98,500(10) 

$1,353,114(184) 

The  authorities  managing  these  playgrounds  are  as  follows: 
park  departments,  school  boards,  playground  commissioners,  and 
other  municipal  authorities;  playground  associations  and  other 
private  organizations.  With  the  increase  in  playgrounds  comes, 
of  course,  an  increased  demand  for  workers.  As  a  rule,  there  are 
three  instructors  on  a  playground,  a  man  for  the  older  boys  and 
two  women  for  the  younger  boys  and  girls. 

PREPARATION. 

The  teaching  of  play  by  women  seems  to  fall  into  two  classes, — 
teaching  children  under  ten  (sometimes  the  line  is  drawn  as  high 
as  thirteen)  and  teaching  the  bigger  girls.  The  requirements  for 
the  two  purposes  are  somewhat  different. 


22  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

1.  Teaching  Children  under  Ten. 

The  profession  of  play  teacher  is  a  new  one,  and  opinions  still 
differ  as  to  what  the  main  requirements  are  and  what  is  the  best 
preparation  for  it.  I  myself  believe  that  the  best  people  to  have 
charge  of  the  small  children  are  kindergartners  for  those  under 
six  years  old,  and  kindergartners  or  other  school-teachers  for 
those  from  six  to  ten,  and,  accordingly,  that  the  best  preparation 
now  available  is  in  the  normal  schools.  Moreover,  there  is  a  prac- 
tical reason  for  joining  play  teaching,  at  least  of  the  smaller  chil- 
dren, with  school  teaching;  namely,  that  the  two  are  necessarily 
carried  on  in  different  parts  of  the  day  or  at  different  seasons  of  the 
year,  and  that  for  the  present  the  times  and  seasons  *  of  the  play- 
ground for  the  small  children  are  not  long  enough  to  take  the 
whole  of  a  person's  working  time,  and  therefore  are  not  enough  to 
afford  full  remunerative  employment.!  There  is,  it  is  true,  a 

*  Regulation  of  the  Boston  School  Committee,  April  12,  1909:  During  the 
.  season  of  1909,  playgrounds  shall  be  conducted  under  the  direction  of  the  depart- 
ment of  school  hygiene  as  follows: — 

From  April  12  to  June  26  and  from  September  6  to  November  20,  from  close 
of  school  until  5.30  o'clock  P.M.  daily,  Sundays,  holidays,  and  Saturday  afternoons 
excepted. 

From  June  28  to  September  4,  from  9  o'clock  A.M.  until  5  o'clock  P.M.  daily, 
Sundays,  holidays,  and  Saturday  afternoons  excepted. 

t  From  the  schedule  of  Boston  Teachers'  Salaries,  1909-10: — 

First  Assistants  in  playgrounds  (women)  (two  sessions) $2.00 

First  Assistants  in  playgrounds  (women)  (one  session) 1.20 

First  Assistants  in  playgrounds  (women)  from  close  of  school  until 

5.30  P.M 1.00 

Play  Teachers  (men)  (morning  session) 3.00 

Play  Teachers  (men)  from  close  of  school  until  5.30  P.M 1.50 

Assistant  Play  Teachers  (men)  morning  session 2.50 

Assistant  Play  Teachers  (men)  from  close  of  school  until  5.30  P.M.   .      1 .00 

Assistants  in  playgrounds  (two  sessions) 1.25 

Assistants  in  playgrounds  (one  session) 75 

Assistants  in  sand  gardens  (two  sessions) 75 

Assistants  in  sand  gardens  (one  session) 50 

The  Playground  Association  of  America  reports  that  instructors  or  first  as- 
sistants are  paid  from  $35  a  month  in  some  cities  to  $85  in  others.  The  salary 
of  a  playground  director  varies  in  the  same  way  from  $50  to  $150.  "The  more 
common  amount  paid  to  playground  workers  is  as  follows:  for  directorst  $100; 
for  first  men  assistants,  $75;  for  first  women  assistants,  $50." — ED. 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  23 

place  in  every  school  system  for  a  director  of  the  whole  system 
of  physical  education  and  for  assistant  directors,  but  those  places 
are  comparatively  few. 

But  besides  the  teaching  that  normal  schools  are  at  present 
giving  in  their  regular  course,  the  play  teacher  should  have  some 
definite  preparation  in  a  course  especially  designed  to  teach  play- 
ground work.  A  good  practical  knowledge  of  the  subject  can  be 
gained  in  a  summer  course,*  of  which  several  are  now  being 
given,  or  in  a  course  like  that  which  the  Boston  Normal  School 
has  lately  established  for  teachers  who  desire  to  include  this  line 
of  work. 

2.  Teaching  the  Bigger  Girls,  especially  those  over  Fourteen. 

There  are  now  schools,  f  furnishing  full  preparation  for  this 
especial  work,  in  which  the  physical  and  anatomical  side  is  more 
extensively  dwelt  upon  than  is  necessary  in  the  case  of  the  smaller 
children. 

At  present  the  public  teaching  of  play  in  Boston  is  almost 
wholly  in  charge  of  the  School  Committee,  t  which  requires  at 

*  In  March,  1910,  the  Sargent  School  of  Physical  Training,  Cambridge,  Mass.. 
gave  a  series  of  twenty-four  lectures  on  the  theory  of  playground  work,  and  in 
the  summer  will  carry  on  a  special  course  in  connection  with  the  Harvard  Summer 
School.  The  New  York  School  of  Philanthropy  and  the  Chicago  School  of  Civics 
and  Philanthropy  will  give  special  playground  courses  in  the  summer  of  1910. 
The  Public  Athletic  League  and  Children's  Playground  Association  of  Baltimore 
carries  on  similar  instruction  from  January  4  to  May  31,  1910. — ED. 

f  E.g.,  The  Boston  Normal  School  of  Gymnastics  (now  Department  of 
Hygiene  and  Physical  Training,  Wellesley  College)  and  the  Sargent  School  of 
Physical  Training.  For  further  particulars  as  to  normal  work  refer  to  the  Play- 
ground Association  of  America,  1  Madison  Avenue,  New  York  City. — ED. 

t  Regulation  passed  by  the  School  Committee  of  Boston,  April  26,  1909: 
Instructors  in  athletics  and  assistant  instructors  in  athletics  must  hold  a  certificate 
of  qualification  including  those  positions.  Play  teachers  and  assistant  play 
teachers  must  hold  a  certificate  of  qualification,  elementary  school.  Class  B,  or 
a  higher  certificate.  First  assistants  in  playgrounds  must  hold  a  certificate  of 
qualification,  elementary  school,  Class  B,  or  a  higher  certificate,  or  a  kindergarten 
certificate,  or  a  special  physical  training  certificate  for  high  schools,  or  a  playground 
certificate.  Assistants  in  playgrounds  and  assistants  in  sand  gardens  must  hold 
a  certificate  of  qualification,  elementary  school,  Class  B,  or  higher  certificate, 
or  a  kindergarten  certificate,  or  a  special  physical  training  certificate,  or  a  play- 
ground certificate,  or  be  pupils  in  regular  attendance  in  the  Boston  Normal  School. 


24  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

least  two  years  in  the  Boston  Normal  School  for  playground  work 
and  graduation  from  the  Boston  Normal  School  of  Gymnastics 
for  teaching  the  high-school  girls. 

As  TO  WHAT  PLAY  TEACHING  is. 

1.  For  Children  under  Ten. 

The  first  test  of  a  successful  playground  is  that  the  children 
shall  be  there.  There  are  playgrounds  run  in  the  most  ex- 
emplary manner  which  the  children  cannot  be  induced  to  attend. 
This  sort  of  absent  treatment  is  not  the  most  effective.  In  order 
that  the  children  may  be  there,  the  first  requisite  is  that  there 
shall  be  something  to  do  which  they  find  worth  while.  The  ques- 
tion of  fitting  out  a  playground  is  a  special  one  that  cannot  be 
gone  into  here,  but  an  important  matter  for  the  teacher  to  see  to 
is  that  what  apparatus  there  is  shall  be  in  order  and  shall  be  in 
use.  If  there  are  unused  swings  or  sand  boxes  or  tilts  or  teeter 
ladders,  there  is  something  the  matter  with  the  management. 

Besides  apparatus  there  must  be  attractive  games.  Those 
for  the  little  children  under  six  are  largely  of  the  dramatic  and 
non-competitive  variety.  In  these  games  the  teacher  will,  as 
a  rule,  find  it  necessary  to  participate,  besides  teaching  them  in 
the  first  place.  The  children's  power  of  social  construction  and 
adhesion  is,  as  a  rule,  too  weak  to  stand  alone.  After  somewhere 
about  the  age  of  six  the  element  of  competition  will  come  in  more 
and  more.  At  first  the  games  will  combine  the  two  elements,  as 
in  hunt  the  squirrel  or  London  bridge.  Afterwards  they  will 
become  frankly  competitive,  as  in  hill  dill,  prisoners'  base,  and 
the  various  forms  of  tag. 

2.  For  Girls  over  Ten. 

The  bigger  girls  may  perhaps  be  usefully  divided  into  two 
classes,  those  from  eleven  to  fourteen  and  those  over  fourteen. 
Just  what  should  be  done  about  them  is  still  to  some  extent  a 
matter  of  surmise.  In  the  main  the  age  from  eleven  to  fourteen 
may  perhaps  be  said  to  be  the  really  critical  one,  because  upon 
the  use  of  those  years  will  depend  the  use  of  the  years  that  fol- 
low, in  which  the  good  or  evil  results  become  more  manifest.  The 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC   SERVICE  25 

great  thing  to  be  aimed  at  is  that  the  girl  from  eleven  to  fourteen 
shall  remain  a  tomboy.  She  ought  to  play  hard,  lively  games, — 
with  her  brothers  and  other  boys  as  much  as  possible.  She  can- 
not play  football,  and  it  seems  to  be  true  that  the  most  strenuous 
forms  of  competition  are  not  good  for  her;  but  she  can  play  every 
running  game,  from  tag  to  hare  and  hounds,  and  games  like 
prisoners'  base,  which  have  not  been  taken  up  by  the  colleges 
and  in  which,  accordingly,  the  competitive  spirit  has  not  been 
abnormally  developed.  Throwing  has  been  found  to  be  good  for 
girls,  and  baseball  accordingly  is  a  good  game  for  them.  Al- 
though competition  should  not  be  excessive,  good  absorbing  games 
are  a  prime  necessity.  Skating  is  one  of  the  best  forms  of  ex- 
ercise for  girls  at  any  age.  Theatricals  are  good,  and  should  be 
begun  before  the  self-conscious  age  of  fourteen. 

For  girls  over  fourteen  the  same  sort  of  games  are  still  to  be 
desired,  though  perhaps  they  will  play  them  less  with  boys  and 
be  less  willing  to  play  them  on  an  open  playground  where  every- 
body can  look  on.  Dancing  is  at  this  period  easily  the  most 
popular  exercise, — not  necessarily  dancing  with  boys.  Folk 
dancing  and  fancy  dancing,  in  girls'  classes  and  wholly  without 
spectators,  seem  to  have  an  immense  attraction  and  power  of 
exhilaration.  The  development  of  star  performers  is  to  be  re- 
ligiously avoided. 


THE  SOCIAL  CENTRE  MOVEMENT 

EDWARD  J.  WARD 

SUPERVISOR  OF  SOCIAL  CENTRES  AND  PLAYGROUNDS  IN  ROCHESTER,  NEW  YORK 

The  use  of  the  public  school  buildings  as  social  centres,  as  it 
has  been  developed  in  Rochester,  means  equipping  them  with 
gymnasium  apparatus  and  baths,  with  circulating  libraries  and 
games,  with  stereopticon  lantern  and  other  facilities  for  the  giv- 
ing of  lectures  and  entertainments,  and  opening  these  buildings 
in  the  evenings  for  the  use  of  the  people  in  the  neighborhood  as 
community  club-houses.  Our  method  is  to  have  the  building 


26  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

opened  for  a  part  of  the  evenings  in  the  week  for  the  use  of  the 
men  and  boys,  a  part  of  the  evenings  for  the  women  and  girls, 
and  at  least  one  evening  in  each  week  for  all  together.  The 
men  are  organized  into  a  Men's  Civic  Club,  the  women  into  a 
Women's  Civic  Club,  the  boys  into  their  club,  and  the  girls  into 
theirs.  Each  of  these  clubs  holds  a  weekly  meeting:  each  of 
them  is  a  self-governing  organization.  For  the  Boys'  Club  a 
man  is  required  as  director.  Another  man  is  required  to  take 
charge  of  the  men's  and  boys'  gymnasium  work.  For  the  Girls' 
Club  a  woman  is  required  as  director,  and  a  woman  with  her 
assistant  is  required  to  take  charge  of  the  women's  and  girls' 
gymnasium  work.  The  position  of  gymnasium  director  in  the 
social  centres  is  similar  to  that  of  directors  in  other  gymnasiums. 
The  position  of  librarian  in  the  school  social  centres  is  also  similar 
to  that  of  librarians  in  general,  except  that  for  this  position  one 
needs  not  so  much  technical  knowledge  as  to  indexing  and  find- 
ing of  books  as  a  broad,  intimate  acquaintance  with  books  and 
people  which  makes  it  possible  for  one  to  inspire  love  of  good 
literature  on  the  part  of  all  sorts  of  folks. 

The  position  of  director  of  girls'  clubs  in  the  social  centres 
requires  a  new  sort  of  qualifications.  The  qualifications  of  the 
ordinary  social  worker  are  not  sufficient,  for  the  social  centres 
are  not  institutions  of  uplift  for  the  poor  people  alone,  as  are 
social  settlements.  In  order  to  fill  the  position  of  club  director 
in  a  public  school  social  centre,  a  woman  needs  the  adaptability 
which  shall  make  her  the  much-needed  missing  link  between 
classes  and  creeds  and  races.  She  deals  not  with  women  and 
girls  of  any  one  station  in  society,  but  with  those  of  all  stations. 
In  order  to  be  successful,  she  must  have  the  broadest  spirit  of 
democracy  and  human  interest  as  the  foundation  of  her  character. 
Added  to  this,  she  needs  ingenuity  and  inventiveness  for  the 
planning  and  arranging  of  programs  for  the  clubs.  She  needs 
parliamentary  ability  in  order  to  develop  the  spirit  of  self- 
government.  She  needs  a  strength  of  personality  which  shall 
make  the  question  of  order  in  these  club  meetings  a  matter  to  be 
taken  for  granted,  never  needing  active  enforcement.  In  view  of 
the  fact  that  the  Young  Women's  and  Girls'  Clubs  frequently 
entertain  the  members  of  the  Boys'  Club,  the  Girls'  Club  director 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  27 

for  social  centre  work  should  have  also  the  qualifications  of  the 
best  sort  of  chaperon.  Physical  training,  musical  and  literary 
culture,  are,  of  course,  desirable,  but  the  great  things  needed  are 
poise  and  breadth  of  interest  and  sympathy,  combined  -  with 
initiative  and  tact. 

There  is  no  position  now  opening  up  which  offers  to  women 
more  splendid  opportunities  for  service  in  developing  the  civic 
spirit  of  broad  acquaintanceship  than  this  position  of  director  of 
girls'  clubs  which  meet  in  public  school  buildings. 

The  question  of  remuneration  in  this,  as  in  other  work,  depends 
upon  the  qualifications  of  the  individual,  upon  the  public  recog- 
nition of  the  value  of  the  service,  and  upon  the  "supply"  of  per- 
sons qualified.  The  pay  for  the  work  for  subordinate  positions  is 
$2.50  per  evening.  The  pay  for  director,  which  corresponds  to 
the  principal,  is  $4  per  evening.  Of  course,  as  the  work  broadens 
out  and  increases,  the  pay  will  also  increase. 

A  number  of  cities  are  just  now  beginning  the  use  of  their  school 
buildings  as  social  centres.  New  York  City  has  opened  30 
schools,  Philadelphia  about  15,  and  Pittsburg  3.  In  addition  to 
these  which  are  now  actually  engaged  in  the  work,  the  following 
cities  are  about  to  begin:  Boston,  Mass.,  Buffalo,  N.Y.,  Colum- 
bus, Ohio.  Besides  these  a  number  of  other  cities  are  apparently 
getting  ready  to  open  their  school  buildings:  Syracuse,  N.Y., 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  Baltimore,  Md.,  Los  Angeles,  CaL,  and  others. 
The  next  few  years  are  likely  to  see  a  very  great  demand  for  this 
work;  the  social  spirit  is  all  abroad,  and  public  school  extension 
is  a  most  obvious  channel  for  its  expression.  A  satisfactory 
arrangement,  by  which  one  may  combine  two  sorts  of  similar 
work,  is  service  as  a  playground  director  during  the  summer 
and  as  a  social  centre  director  in  the  winter.  This  is  the  plan 
followed  by  several  of  the  directors  in  Rochester. 


28  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 


ECONOMIC  RESEARCH 

SUSAN  M.  KINGSBURY 

ASSISTANT  PROFESSOR  OF  HISTORY  AND  ECONOMICS,  SIMMONS  COLLEGE 

College  students  who  have  found  themselves  interested  in  the 
discovery  of  economic  principles  and  concerned  about  the  solu- 
tion of  economic  problems,  have  proved  an  ability  to  think  logi- 
cally and  clearly,  and  have  a  sense  of  proportion  and  perspective, 
may  well  consider  specialization  along  economic  lines.  Fitness 
for  research  in  economic  subjects  requires  the  powers  outlined 
for  all  research  work. 

The  initial  preparation  for  such  work  should  consist  of  college 
courses  in  history  and  economics.  For  advanced  training  there 
are  at  present,  in  addition  to  the  graduate  research  courses  in 
economics  and  social  science  in  all  of  our  universities,  a  number  of 
institutions  which  are  offering  special  training  for  research,  and 
are  granting  fellowships  and  scholarships  varying  from  $100  to 
$1,000.  The  object  of  these  studentships,  in  the  words  of 
the  Director  of  Research  in  the  Chicago  school,  is  to  afford 
"experience  as  enumerators  with  a  study  of  the  problem  to 
be  attacked  on  the  theoretical  side,  and  exercises  in  the  use  of 
the  various  technical  devices  for  presenting  the  results  of  the 
enquiry." 

Such  opportunities  are  to  be  found  in  research  departments  of 
the  New  York  School  of  Philanthropy,  the  Chicago  School  of 
Civics  and  Philanthropy,  the  School  for  Social  Workers  in  Boston, 
and  the  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union  in  Boston, 
while  the  American  Bureau  of  Industrial  Research  conducts  its 
work  through  fellowships  in  connection  with  the  University  of 
Wisconsin. 

The  actual  present  number  of  positions  in  economic  research 
and  the  compensation  are  most  difficult  to  determine.  It  must  be 
understood  that  for  the  present  at  least  not  only  is  the  number  of 
such  opportunities  in  any  one  field  of  pure  research  limited,  but 
the  position  may  be  brief  and  will  probably  not  be  permanent, 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  29 

and,  furthermore,  may  take  the  woman  to  any  part  of  the  country, 
although  such  experience  should  distinctly  lead  to  administrative 
work  of  a  similar  type.  For  this  very  reason  the  salaries  should  be 
relatively  high.  The  sum  paid  to  the  enumerator  or  the  college 
girl  serving  an  apprenticeship  with  no  previous  training  may  be 
$12  to  $15  per  week,  while  the  salary  of  the  trained  worker  will 
vary  with  her  experience  and  the  responsibilities  and  originality 
of  the  investigation  from  $1,000  to  $2,000  a  year  or  more.  When 
the  power  of  administration  is  combined  with  that  of  research, 
the  income  may  be  proportionately  greater. 

Positions  in  pure  research  exist  to-day  or  have  existed  during 
the  past  year  under  State  and  national  bureaus  of  labor, 
the  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  State  and  national  special  com- 
missions, child  labor  committees,  the  Consumers'  League, 
the  Women's  Trade  Union  League,  and  other  private  organiza- 
tions.* 

Training  in  economic  research  may  lead,  therefore,  to  such  posi- 
tions as: — 

1.  Social  settlement  workers,  where  the  investigation  would 
concern  itself  with  the  life  of  the  people.     This  would  include  the 
study  of  the  wages,  standard  of  living,  and  savings  or  thrift,  of 
the  workers. 

2.  Investigators  of  industries,  of  the  relations  of  employer  and 
employee  or  of  landlord  and  tenant,  and  of  such  problems  as  the 
supply  and  demand  of  labor,  wages,  hours,  protection,  and  gen- 
eral conditions  of  labor.     Positions  are  to  be  found  under  na- 
tional and  State  bureaus  of  labor,  special  national  investigations, 
such  as  the  commission  on  the  labor  of  women  and  children  and 
the  immigration  commission,  State  recess  commissions  and  com- 
mittees, and  private  studies  conducted  by  such  organizations  as 
the  Russell  Sage  Foundation.     Such  experience  or  training  also 
opens  positions  as  factory  inspectors,!  tenement-house  inspec- 

*  Seventeen  responses  to  twenty-seven  inquiries  showed  twelve  organizations 
carrying  on  or  having  conducted  some  line  of  inquiry.  To  state  that  at  least 
one  hundred  such  positions  have  been  open  during  the  past  year  or  two  will  not 
exaggerate  the  opportunity. 

f  Forty-seven  factory  inspectorships  in  the  several  States  "may"  or  "must" 
be  filled  by  women.  Of  these  inspectors,  eight  in  Ohio  are  called  "  visitors." 


30  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

tors,  lodging-house  inspectors,  and  workers  who  are  concerned 
with  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  touching  the  industrial  welfare 
of  the  community. 

3.  Leaders  in  the  promotion  of  the  welfare  of  the  group  from 
the  financial  and  physical  side,  in  organizations  which  have  to  do 
with  the  relation  between  employer  and  employee  and  the  effort 
of  the  employee  to  improve  his  position.     Such  occupations  are 
those  of  secretaryships  to  organizations, — the  Consumers'  League, 
thrift  societies,  or  trade  unions. 

4.  Educational  leaders   of  industrial  workers.     The  responsi- 
bilities of  the  public  to  aid  the  people  to  a  knowledge  of  the  oppor- 
tunity for  employment  and  to  direct  young  people  into  the  fields 
for  which  they  are  fitted  are  creating  a  demand  for  administrators 
of  employment  agencies  and  vocational  counsellors.     Such  posi- 
tions require  a  knowledge  of  the  industries,  together  with  the 
power  and  training  of  the  psychologist  to  judge  and  of  the  edu- 
cator to  direct  the  individual. 


MUNICIPAL  RESEARCH 

WILLIAM  H.  ALLEN 

DIRECTOR  OF  THE  BUREAU  OF  MUNICIPAL  RESEARCH,  NEW  YORK 

WHAT  is  MUNICIPAL  RESEARCH? 

A  search  for  facts  that  concern  municipal  welfare  with  special 
reference  to  governmental  responsibility  for  conditions.  The 
title  is  broad  enough  to  include  almost  any  other  kind  of  research, 
for  there  is  no  truth  of  science  or  medicine  or  pathology  or  soci- 
ology or  pedagogics  that  is  not  involved  in  successful  adminis- 
tration of  an  Americ  n  city.  The  term  "municipal,"  as  distinct 
from  other  forms  of  research,  has  been  given  its  color  by  the 
New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,  whose  charter  pur- 
poses are  as  follows: — 

To  promote  efficient  and  economical  municipal  government;  to 
promote  the  adoption  of  scientific  methods  of  accounting  and  of 
reporting  the  details  of  municipal  business,  with  a  view  to  facili- 
tating the  work  of  public  officials;  to  secure  constructive  pub- 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  31 

licity  in  matters  pertaining  to  municipal  problems;  and  to  these 
ends  to  collect,  to  classify,  to  analyze,  to  correlate,  to  interpret, 
and  to  publish  facts  as  to  the  administration  of  municipal  govern- 
ment. 

In  the  course  of  four  years  its  workers  have  found  it  necessary 
to  study  infant  mortality,  part  time,  truancy,  milk  inspection, 
physical  examination  of  school-children,  dock  leases,  ferry  costs, 
tenement-house  administration,  budget-making,  hospital  manage- 
ment, park  revenues,  loafing  employees,  diversion  of  hospital 
funds,  charter-making,  public  baths,  school  reports,  city  debt, 
playground  management,  hospital  helpers,  highway  repairing, 
police  supplies,  the  law  and  practice  in  cases  of  perjury,  etc. 
They  have  had  direct  and  indirect  contact  with  employees  and 
officials,  high  and  low,  responsible  for  the  above  municipal  activi- 
ties, and  besides  have  had  contact  with  the  tenement  resident, 
the  purchaser  of  unsafe  milk,  the  sick  child,  the  indigent  and  the 
rich,  ministers,  congregations,  social  workers,  editors,  machine 
politicians,  and  political  reformers. 

The  scope  of  municipal  research  in  any  community  is  as  broad 
as  the  activities  of  that  community.  Anything  and  anybody 
may  fall  in  its  field  that  is  or  ought  to  be  taxed  or  punished  or 
inconvenienced  or  educated  by  the  community  as  a  whole.  Pub- 
lic health,  public  education,  public  charity,  public  order,  public 
safety,  public  investment,  or  public  insurance, — whatever  belongs 
to  any  of  them, — may,  over  night,  become  the  chief  concern  of 
municipal  research. 

KINDS  OF  OPENING. 

For  these  varied  subjects  and  varied  tasks,  workers  of  varied 
qualifications  are  required.  Investigaticfri  in  the  field,  clerical 
work,  statistical  research,  stenography,  Xditorial  work,  proof- 
reading, telephone  operating,  interpreting,  secretarial  work, 
publicity  work, — college  women  are  needed  in  all  of  these 
positions. 

NUMBER  OF  OPENINGS. 

There  are  Bureaus  of  Municipal  Research  in  Greater  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  Memphis,  and  Cincinnati,  with  growing 


32  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

staffs.  There  is  none  as  yet  in  Boston.  While  obviously  the 
openings  are  not  yet  numerous,  the  methods  and  point  of  view 
of  municipal  research  are  required  in  a  great  many  positions 
adjacent  to  municipal  activities.  So  many  cities  are  in  need  of 
municipal  research  that  it  is  certain  a  forced  supply  will  not 
only  stimulate  a  demand,  but  will,  in  a  very  short  time,  run 
behind  the  demand. 

The  New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  now  has  35 
employees,  of  whom  16  are  women.  Of  4  graduates  of  women's 
colleges,  at  present  one  is  an  investigator  in  the  field,  one  is  in 
charge  of  bulletins  and  office  supplies,  messengers  and  clippings, 
one  is  doing  editorial  work  chiefly,  ©ne  is  a  volunteer  doing 
statistical  work  in  connection  with  schools. 

It  is  as  yet  relatively  difficult  to  use  women  as  field  investi- 
gators, because  we  work  with  and  through  city  employees  respon- 
sible for  fields  studied,  and  these  officials  and  those  under  their 
authority  are  men  who  prefer  to  collaborate — again  as  yet — with 
men.  For  some  time  to  come  municipal  research  will  rely  for 
its  field  investigators  chiefly  upon  men.  For  its  office  statistical 
work,  for  reporters,  writers,  proof-readers,  secretaries,  women  will 
be  in  special  demand  until  potentially  competent  women  are  as 
rare  as  potentially  competent  men.  In  smaller  communities 
there  is  a  probability  that  municipal  research  will  come  sooner  if 
college  women  fit  themselves  to  urge,  to  organize,  to  finance,  and 
to  do  municipal  research  work.  The  need  is  unlimited.  The 
demand  will  soon  follow.  Will  college  women  fit  themselves  to 
lead?  The  New  York  Bureau  could  take  research  students  as 
apprentices  at  their  own  expense  to  an  unlimited  number  and 
give  them  a  wide  range  of  experience,  but  for  some  time  to  come 
will  add  to  its  own  staff  but  one  or  two  women  a  year.  It  is  then, 
in  other  words,  a  better  market — at  present — for  those  who  wish 
to  trade  their  time  for  training  than  for  those  who  wish  to  sell 
their  time. 

LENGTH  OF  TIME  OF  TRAINING. 

It  takes  from  three  to  twelve  months  in  an  office  for  the  average 
college  man  or  woman  to  develop  a  figure  conscience — to  be  able 
to  add,  to  figure  correctly,  to  compute  percentage  reliably,  to 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  33 

write  letters  just  right.  Previous  courses  in  economic  and  public 
administration,  history,  and  natural  science,  all  seem  to  help 
more  than  mathematics,  for  example.  It  is  easier  to  give  accu- 
racy to  a  person  who  can  visualize  preventable  mortality  than  to 
give  power  of  visualization  to  an  unimaginative,  accurate  person. 
To  be  quite  candid,  there  seems  to  be  no  certain  relation  between 
college  mathematics  and  accuracy  in  an  office,  or  between  after- 
college  horkon  and  cultural  studies  in  college.  Any  previous 
training  that  makes  one  trainable,  imaginative,  ambitious  to  earn 
not  a  mere  passing  mark,  but  an  average  of  98  per  cent,  in 
practical  work,  is  good  training  for  municipal  research. 

WHAT  ARE  SALARIES? 

The  present  salaries  are  not  a  fair  index  to  what  municipal 
research  offers.  The  highest  salary  we  now  pay  is  $1,500.  Be- 
cause municipal  business  has  so  many  sides,  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
the  same  person  will  at  the  end  of  five  years  be  able  to  earn  more 
in  any  other  line  because  of  work  in  municipal  research. 


SOCIAL  SERVICE 


THE  NEW  YORK  ASSOCIATION  FOR  IMPROVING 
THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  POOR 

HALLE  D.  WOODS 

ASSISTANT   SETPEHINTENDENT   OP   RELIEF 

The  New  York  Association  for  Improving  the  Condition  of 
the  Poor  offers  a  field  of  work  that  ought  to  be  of  special  interest 
to  college  women  who  are  desiring  to  enter  upon  social  service. 
From  6,000  to  10,000  families  are  under  the  care  of  the  associ- 
ation each  year,  and  while  the  immediate  task  is  to  relieve  their 
distress,  beyond  this  lies  the  opportunity  for  raising  the  standard 
of  living  of  individual  families  and  for  gathering  together  facts  as 


34  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

to  the  environment  of  the  poor  and  as  to  their  physical,  mental, 
and  moral  condition, — facts  which  show  the  causes  of  poverty, 
which  disclose  the  special  evils  to  be  overcome  and  point  the  way 
to  needed  reforms. 

VISITORS. 

From  25  to  30  visitors  are  needed  to  carry  on  the  work  of 
the  Relief  Department.  Three  of  these  are  men,  the  others 
women  of  education,  experience,  tact,  sympathy,  and  good 
judgment.  Women  who  have  been  interested  in  teaching  find 
that  in  taking  up  the  work  of  visiting  the  poor  they  have  not 
fundamentally  changed  their  profession,  for  the  work  is  largely 
educational.  The  difference  is  that  the  family,  as  a  whole,  now 
becomes  the  unit  of  work  instead  of  one  child.  Each  visitor  has 
under  her  care  from  75  to  100  families,  who,  because  of  illness, 
lack  of  work,  or  shiftlessness,  are  unable  to  support  themselves, 
"the  appeal  is  usually  for  some  material  aid,  such  as  food,  rent, 
clothing,  or  fuel,  but  while  giving  this  aid  the  visitor  is  compelled 
to  make  a  study  of  the  home  conditions,  and  to  devise  some 
plan  that  will  put  the  family  once  more  in  an  independent 
position,  and,  if  possible,  establish  for  them  a  higher  standard 
of  living. 

This  means  advising  those  who  do  not  know  how  best  to  help 
themselves,  giving  encouragement  and  sympathy  to  those  who 
are  disheartened,  helping  men  and  women  to  overcome  their 
lack  of  former  opportunity,  working  with  them  in  the  struggle 
against  inherited  tendencies,  teaching  ignorant  mothers  how  to 
care  for  their  homes  and  their  children,  looking  well  to  the  physi- 
cal, mental,  and  moral  condition  of  all  members  of  the  family, 
putting  them  in  touch  with  dispensaries,  hospitals,  schools, 
churches,  social  settlements,  playgrounds,  parks,  libraries,  and 
museums,  and  trying  in  every  way  to  secure  for  them  their  right- 
ful heritage  of  health,  knowledge,  comfort,  and  happiness. 

SPECIAL  TEACHERS. 

Since  the  unhappy  conditions  of  the  home  are  so  often  due  to 
the  ignorance  of  the  wife  and  mother,  a  few  special  teachers  are 
needed;  e.g., — 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  35 

(a)  One  dietitian  and  teacher  of  cooking,  who  goes  to  the  home 
to  instruct  the  mother  whose  children  are  underfed  or  wrongly 
fed,  giving  lessons  in  practical  cooking,  planning  carefully  with 
the  mother  the  meals  of  the  family,  and  giving  at  the  same  time 
systematic  lessons  in  the  wise  expenditure  of  money. 

(6)  One  sewing  teacher,  who  instructs  women  how  to  make  the 
garments  given  out  by  the  Association. 

(c)  Ten  nurses :  3  who  visit  mothers  before  and  after  confine- 
ment to  instruct  them  regarding  their  own  care  and  later  regard- 
ing the  care  of  the  baby;  2  who  visit  cases  of  general  illness 
and  teach  mothers  how  to  watch  over  the  physical  welfare  of 
the  children;  5  who  visit  certain  dispensaries  and  then  go  to  the 
homes  to  see  that  the  mothers  carry  out  the  instructions  of  the 
physician. 

SUPERVISORS. 

The  supervisory  work  consists  in  overseeing  the  work  of  5 
or  6  visitors,  carrying  on  any  necessary  correspondence,  reading 
and  hearing  the  daily  reports  of  the  visitors,  watching  the  expen- 
ditures, suggesting  ways  and  means  of  relief,  giving  decisions  in 
troublesome  cases,  and  in  general  acting  as  guide,  counsellor,  and 
friend  both  to  visitors  and  applicants. 

RESEARCH  WORK. 

One  aim  of  the  association  is  to  use  the  knowledge  gained  in 
the  homes  for  the  permanent  betterment  of  social  conditions.  To 
this  end  full  study  is  made  of  facts  bearing  upon  social  and  eco- 
nomic problems,  and  it  is  the  task  of  one  worker  to  put  these 
facts  in  statistical  form  and  issue  reports  that  show  the  cause  and 
effect  of  some  one  evil  that  is  affecting  the  community. 

TRAINING  AND  EXPERIENCE. 

There  is  no  fixed  requirement  as  to  the  training  and  experience 
of  those  entering  upon  the  work  of  the  association.  Previous 
experience  in  social  work  is  always  helpful,  and  trained  insight 
into  character  is  invaluable.  Other  things  being  equal,  preference 
is  given  to  college  women  and  to  those  who  have  specialized  in 


36  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

economics  and  sociology,  but  very  many  women  have  become 
successful  visitors  without  such  training. 

There  are  about  70  women  upon  the  staff  of  the  A.  I.  C.  P., 
but  the  positions  of  most  interest  to  those  who  will  read  these 
pages  are  the  following:  one  superintendent  of  relief,  1  assistant 
superintendent  of  relief,  2  reception  agents,  4  supervisors,  25  to 
30  visitors,  1  dietitian,  1  sewing  teacher,  10  nurses,  1  statistician, 
1  subscription  clerk,  1  secretary  to  general  agent. 

Fresh-air  work,  May  to  October,  requires;  2  supervisors,  10 
to  12  visitors,  1  superintendent  of  Sea  Breeze,  one  secretary  to 
superintendent. 

The  salaries  of  these  positions  vary  from  $40  a  month,  given 
to  beginners,  to  $2,000  a  year. 


CHARITY  ORGANIZATION  WORK 

MARY  GRACE  WORTHINGTON 

SUPERVISOR  OF  FIELD  WORK,  NEW  YORK  SCHOOL  OF  PHILANTHROPY 

Charity  Organization  work  offers  a  much  wider  scope  and 
a  more  diversified  field  of  action  for  the  influence  of  educated 
women  than  is  at  all  generally  known.  A  very  brief  explanation 
of  the  lines  upon  which  the  Charity  Organization  Society  in  the 
city  of  New  York  is  administered  will  show  how  well  adapted  it 
is  to  initiate  new  movements  for  the  improvement  of  social  and 
moral  conditions,  and  what  efficient  means  it  has  to  execute 
them  successfully. 

The  Central  Council,  the  governing  body  of  the  society, 
is  composed  of  33  members,  all  of  whom  serve  without  com- 
pensation. The  work  of  the  Council  is  distributed  among 
a  number  of  standing  committees  responsible  to  the  Council. 
These  committees,  which  are  appointed  by  the  president,  include 
members  irrespective  "of  residence  or  contribution,  and  the 
Society  has  been  able  to  enlist  on  different  Committees  men  and 
women  in  other  parts  of  the  country  to  deal  with  matters  that 
are  national  rather  than  local."  The  chairman  of  each  commit- 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  37 

tee  is  a  member  of  the  council,  but  the  other  members  need  not 
be,  so  that  the  people  best  fitted  by  knowledge  and  service  may 
be  used  for  the  efficient  work  of  new  undertakings.  There  are 
now  20  of  these  standing  committees,  each  in  charge  of  a  dis- 
tinctive part  of  the  work.  The  work  is  organized  in  bureaus, 
with  a  paid  executive  head,  secretary,  and  assistants,  and  some 
of  the  positions  are  already  filled  by  women,  who  have  the  con- 
genial task  of  planning  and  developing  new  methods  to  increase 
the  constructive  power  of  social  work. 

Through  its  belief  in  co-operation  and  its  endeavor  to  use  in 
the  most  effectual  way  whatever  the  community  has  to  offer 
for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  and  the  propaganda  of  reform,  the 
society  continues  to  demonstrate  to  the  public  the  value  of  the 
co-ordination  of  charitable  effort.  The  necessity  of  some  commu- 
nity reform — the  knowledge  of  which  we  may  imagine  to  be  due 
to  some  woman's  careful  study  of  the  conditions  under  which  the 
lives  of  the  poor  are  misspent  or  exploited — is  thoroughly  ex- 
plained to  the  public,  and  through  the  efforts  of  one  of  the  stand- 
ing committees  an  object-lesson  of  practical  remedial  reform  is 
given  until  the  proper  civic  authorities  have  been  aroused  to  their 
responsibilities,  when  the  work  is  turned  over  to  them  and  the 
society  left  free  to  initiate  some  new  improvement.  Present 
examples  of  such  work  are  the  Tenement  House  Committee  and 
the  Committee  for  the  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis. 

Besides  its  work  in  co-operative  and  constructive  reform  the 
society  is  especially  equipped  to  handle  relief  funds  in  times  of 
emergency,  to  investigate  charitable  institutions  for  the  informa- 
tion of  donors,  to  prevent  the  duplication  of  charitable  agencies 
and  to  supplement  them  whenever  necessary,  and  to  use  its  influ- 
ence against  unwise  appropriation  for  supposed  charitable  pur- 
poses. It  also  edits  a  journal  of  constructive  philanthropy, 
called  the  Survey,  formerly  Charities  and  the  Commons,  and  has 
lately  inaugurated  a  Field  Department  for  the  extension  of  organ- 
ized charity  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  With  the  active 
support  of  this  department  new  societies  are  constantly  being 
formed. 

Women  have  been  and  will  be  employed  in  all  these  activities. 
In  New  York  the  society  employs  166  people,  of  whom  132  are 


38  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

women  and  34  men.  About  one-half  of  the  women  are  clerks  and 
stenographers,  getting  salaries  that  vary  from  $5  to  $20  a  week. 
The  salaries  of  the  women  employed  as  heads  of  bureaus  and 
departments,  supervisors,  secretaries,  and  members  of  the  edi- 
torial staff  of  the  Survey,  compare  favorably  with  those  of  women 
teachers,  and  range  from  $900  to  $1,800  a  year.  A  few  at  the 
top  reach  even  a  higher  figure.  Of  the  66  women  in  the  higher 
positions,  not  quite  one-half  have  been  trained  in  the  School  of 
Philanthropy,  but  the  rest  have  had  either  a  period  of  training 
in  the  society  itself  or  experience  in  other  forms  of  social  work. 
It  is  now  considered  necessary  for  every  woman,  whether  she  is 
a  college  graduate  or  not,  to  have  had  some  special  training  before 
she  undertakes  any  philanthropic  work. 

The  society  does  an  extensive  work  through  its  district  com- 
mittees, of  which  there  are  11  in  New  York  (Manhattan  and 
the  Bronx).  These  committees  have  charge  of  the  families  within 
their  separate  boundaries,  and  attend  to  their  own  government, 
subject  to  the  control  of  the  council.  Each  district  has  an  agent, 
a  stenographer,  and  often  a  visiting  nurse.  Women  now  fill  all 
these  positions.  The  agent's  salary  varies  from  $780  to  $1,200 
a  year,  with  certain  advancement  for  any  woman  with  special 
ability.  The  assistant  agents  are  paid  from  $60  to  $70  a  month. 

These  assistant  positions  should  be  regarded  by  the  student  of 
sociology  as  medical  students  regard  their  dispensary  practice, 
as  offering  the  very  best  opportunity  to  get  the  training  necessary 
for  positions  of  more  responsibility.  It  is  not  sufficiently  under- 
stood that  the  District  Office,  composed  of  trained  workers,  is 
the  clinic  of  the  social  movement,  and  that  these  positions  can 
and  should  be  used  by  women  students  to  study  social  forces. 

Special  training  must,  however,  be  added,  for  there  is,  perhaps, 
no  part  of  the  work  in  which  the  social  student  needs  more  super- 
vision and  direction  than  in  dealing  with  the  individual  case.  It 
is  an  art  which  can  use  the  highest  abilities,  and  out  of  which 
surprising  results  can  be  developed  by  the  force  of  individual 
character  and  properly  directed  effort.  Proper  investigation  is 
the  foundation  of  all  good  work,  and  requires  a  high  order  of 
disciplined  intelligence. 

There  is  a  growing  demand  for  trained  women  to  fill  the  posi- 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  39 

tions  of  general  secretaries  of  Associated  Charities  in  places  out- 
side of  New  York.  In  such  positions  a  woman  would  have  the 
opportunity  of  using  all  her  executive  power  to  create  co-operation 
between  various  charities,  and  in  many  instances  would  be  asked 
to  advise  in  the  administration  of  public  relief.  These  positions 
start  with  a  salary  of  $900  or  $1,200  and  increase  with  the  success 
of  the  work. 

The  New  York  School  of  Philanthropy,  United  Charities  Build- 
ing, 105  East  22d  Street,  New  York  City,  is  under  the  care  of 
the  Committee  on  Philanthropic  Education  of  the  Charity  Or- 
ganization Society,  and  offers  two  courses  in  applied  philan- 
thropy. 

1st.  The  Summer  Course,  June  20  to  July  29,  1910.  One 
year's  experience  in  social  work  is  required,  and  a  registration  fee 
of  $20.  It  aims  to  give  a  brief  normal  course  for  experienced 
social  workers. 

2d.  The  Winter  Course,  beginning  September  28,  1910,  and 
ending  May  31,  1911.  This  is  a  two  years'  course.  One  year  is 
given  to  required  residence  work,  consisting  of  lectures  and  class 
instruction  by  experts  and  six  months  of  supervised  practical 
field  work,  two  of  which  must  be  spent  in  learning  Charity  Or- 
ganization Methods.  The  second  year  may  be  devoted  to  super- 
vised professional  employment  combined  with  special  instruction, 
or  to  advanced  work  at  the  school.  The  fee  is  $100.  This  course 
is  designed  for  the  beginner  in  social  work. 

The  school  has  a  Bureau  of  Social  Research  (Russell  Sage 
Foundation),  where  intensive  investigations  are  made  into  some 
of  the  present  living  conditions  in  the  United  States.  A  few  re- 
search fellowships  with  stipends  varying  from  $500  to  $1,500  are 
awarded  to  those  with  some  special  gift  or  training  for  research 
work.  The  winter  and  summer  schools  have  a  number  of  fellow- 
ships as  well,  all  of  which  are  awarded  equally  to  men  and  women. 
Since  the  active  work  of  the  Bureau  of  Social  Research  was  be- 
gun in  October,  1907,  there  have  been  10  women  fellows  and  as- 
sistants and  11  men.  Of  these,  4  of  the  women  and  4  of  the  men 
were  senior  fellows  with  salaries  of  $1,000  to  $1,500.  Informa- 
tion in  regard  to  these  fellowships  will  be  given  upon  request. 

It  is  important  that  educated  women  should  know  that  there 


40  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

is  an  opportunity  in  the  varied  work  of  the  Charity  Organization 
Society  for  the  worthy  exercise  of  their  highest  powers,  also  that 
the  training  in  method  given  by  the  society  is  the  best  prepara- 
tion for  other  kinds  of  social  work. 


OPPORTUNITIES  IN  CHILD-SAVING  WORK 

C.  C.  CARSTENS,  PH.D. 

MASSACHUSETTS  SOCIETY  FOB  THE  PREVENTION  OF  CRUELTY  TO  CHILDREN 

Several  years  ago  a  bright  and  attractive  lad  of  eight  lost  his 
father  and  went  to  live  with  his  grandfather,  but  at  this  point 
any  apparent  similarity  with  little  Lord  Fauntleroy  ceased.  His 
mother,  weak  in  physique  as  well  as  ambition,  was  able  to  pro- 
vide only  for  herself  and  the  boy's  younger  sister.  The  grand- 
father took  the  lad  in  from  a  sense  of  duty,  but  had  no  affection 
for  him,  and  it  was  not  long  before  things  became  "too  hot"  for 
him,  and  he  ran  away.  A  childless  family  of  refinement  and 
ample  means  in  the  same  town  had  longed  to  have  a  child  in 
their  home.  The  boy  was  transplanted,  and  there  he  found  not 
only  enough  to  satisfy  the  necessities  of  life,  but  also  that  warm 
sympathy  he  had  instinctively  craved  as  his  birthright.  The 
story  in  these  bare  outlines  is  quickly  told,  but  the  task  as  it 
was  worked  out  by  an  experienced,  trained  woman  required 
education  and  tact. 

To  give  a  child  the  influences  of  a  good  home,  to  put  a  wayward 
boy  or  girl  on  the  right  track,  to  win  an  adolescent  from  the  road 
that  leads  to  destruction  back  upon  the  path  to  a  wholesome, 
successful  life,  with  all  the  physical,  intellectual,  and  spiritual 
problems  that  each  such  task  implies,  are  all  in  the  day's  work. 
Not  only  these  tasks,  but  the  yet  more  difficult  adjustments  in 
family  life  which  concern  themselves  with  improving  the  char- 
acter and  preserving  the  integrity  of  a  child's  home,  are  indeed 
worthy  of  the  best-trained  minds  and  hearts.  The  theory  and 
practice  of  this  work  are  now  well  understood,  and  the  results 
are  so  successful  in  their  ultimate  analysis  that  child-saving  work 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  41 

brings  perhaps  a  larger  measure  of  satisfaction  than  any  other 
form  of  social  work. 

While  it  is  difficult  to  define  accurately  the  qualifications  that 
such  work  requires,  the  task  may  be  compared  with  that  of  a 
successful  teacher.  But  just  as  it  is  more  complex  in  that  the 
social  worker  must  deal  with  all  the  child's  interests,  it  is  also 
more  satisfying  when  plans  that  have  been  carefully  made  come 
to  fruition.  Men  and  women  who  are  now  taking  the  direction 
of  such  enterprises  are  in  large  measure  successful  college  or  uni- 
versity graduates,  who  see  in  this  work  a  form  of  service  to  their 
town  and  to  their  commonwealth. 

The  field  is  rapidly  widening,  and  the  tasks  are  being  special- 
ized. Not  only  are  women  filling  the  more  important  positions  in 
children's  aid  work,  but  some  of  the  most  difficult  prosecutions  of 
the  Massachusetts  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Chil- 
dren of  last  year  were  planned  and  carried  through  successfully 
on  the  basis  of  the  work  of  its  women  agents.  Women  are  now 
filling  the  position  of  superintendent  of  some  of  the  children's 
aid  societies  in  the  States  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York.  They 
are  visitors  and  volunteer  agents  of  the  metropolitan  children's 
aid  societies  and  societies  for  the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  chil- 
dren in  New  York,  Boston,  and  Philadelphia.  They  are  super- 
intendents and  matrons  of  industrial  schools  for  girls. 

A  young  woman  of  twenty-five,  who  does  not  have  a  passion  for 
teaching,  but  who  is  likely  to  drift  along  the  line  of  least  resist- 
ance into  that  work,  may  very  well  consider  the  work  of  child- 
saving  in  one  of  its  many  forms.  A  year  or  two  in  a  school  of 
philanthropy  would  lead  to  a  broader  outlook  and  a  considerably 
larger  salary  at  the  start,  but  even  without  such  training,  there 
are  openings  for  capable  educated  women  where  they  may  begin 
their  apprenticeship  at  from  $30  to  $50  a  month.  Those  who  are 
successful  may  in  a  period  of  from  three  to  five  years  raise  their 
salaries  to  $800  or  $900.  The  salaries  of  capable  women  visitors 
in  New  York  and  Boston  vary  from  $600  to  $1,200,  while  de- 
partment heads  are  earning  from  $1,200  to  $1,500.  Assistant 
superintendents  of  the  larger  societies  or  superintendents  of  the 
smaller  organizations  are  paid  from  $1,200  to  $2,000  per  year. 
The  salaries  of  visitors,  agents,  or  volunteer  probation  officers 


42  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

of  societies  for  the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  children  in  Boston, 
New  York,  and  Philadelphia  range  from  $600  to  $1,500.  Super- 
intendents of  industrial  schools,  as  well  as  other  officials  who 
are  connected  with  the  work  for  children  in  various  departments, 
are  also  frequently  recruited  from  experienced  child-saving  visi- 
tors. Their  salaries  are  still  larger.  The  superintendent  of  an 
industrial  school  in  Massachusetts  with  a  salary  of  $1,800  a  year 
besides  her  home  was  recently  drafted  into  another  State  with  a 
salary  of  $2,500  and  home. 

To  summarize:  Social  workers  who  have  previously  been  suc- 
cessful teachers  rarely  regret  having  entered  child-saving  work. 
The  field  is  widening,  and  the  tasks  are  being  more  specialized  so 
that  a  larger  range  of  ability  is  in  demand.  The  salaries  of  those 
in  the  ranks  are  as  yet  somewhat  less  than  those  of  teachers, 
but  these  also  are  increasing.  Experienced  and  well-balanced 
women  are  constantly  sought  for  positions  of  responsibility  at 
salaries  that  can  challenge  comparison  with  those  paid  in  other 
work  requiring  the  same  training  and  responsibility.  A  wider 
range  of  opportunity  is  open  for  the  successful  children's  worker 
than  for  the  teacher. 


SOCIAL  WORK  IN  HOSPITALS 

RICHARD  C.  CABOT,    M.D. 

WHAT  IT  is. 

Within  the  past  four  years  a  number  of  hospitals  in  Boston, 
New  York,  Chicago,  Baltimore,  and  Philadelphia,  have  realized 
that  the  aches  and  pains  for  which  patients  seek  relief  are  often 
the  results  of  insufficient  food,  of  bad  housing  conditions,  of  igno- 
rance as  to  the  simplest  rules  of  hygiene,  or  of  worry,  fear,  and 
depression.  Since  treatment  of  the  patient's  symptoms  is  useless 
unless  their  cause  is  reached,  and  since  this  cause  turns  out  often 
to  be  social  and  economic  rather  than  medical,  social  workers  are, 
in  many  cases,  necessary  to  efficient  treatment  or  to  any  treat- 
ment that  is  not  a  waste  of  time  and  money.  Adequate  diet, 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  43 

fresh  air,  sound  teeth,  decent  sleeping  accommodations,  are  indis- 
pensable for  the  recovery  of  health  in  the  innumerable  cases 
where  disease  is  the  fruit  of  malnutrition.  But  doctors  and  hos- 
pital superintendents  have  not  time  nor  training  to  supply  such 
needs.  Domestic,  industrial,  and  psychical  maladjustments-must 
be  combated  by  some  one  who  studies  the  person  as  well  as  his 
symptom — the  person  in  his  family  relationships  or  his  financial 
difficulties  and  his  mental  and  emotional  conflicts.  This  is  the 
task  of  the  social  worker  in  a  hospital. 

Cases  in  which  the  doctor  feels  that  he  needs  assistance  are 
by  him  referred  to  the  social  worker,  who  has  a  desk  and  office 
hours  at  the  hospital  during  the  clinic  hours  (usually  9  to  1), 
and  visits  patients'  homes  in  the  afternoons.  She  is  in  constant 
touch  with  the  other  charities  of  the  city,  and  constitutes  a  bureau 
of  reference  and  information  in  relation  to  them.  She  keeps  the 
run  of  the  various  hospitals,  so  that  patients  needing  hospital 
care  may  be  placed  where  they  belong.  She  teaches  the  simple 
hygienic  rules  that  are  so  little  known  to  many  patients,  loans 
(in  appropriate  cases)  the  money  necessary  for  flat-foot  plates, 
false  teeth,  trusses,  and  other  apparatus,  and  labors  to  overcome, 
by  friendly  explanation,  the  rooted  prejudice  which  many  patients 
feel  against  hospitals  and  operations.  When  patients  are  about 
to  leave  the  hospital  wards,  she  tries  to  arrange  that  they  shall 
not  be  "dumped,"  half  cured,  on  the  sidewalk,  but  shall  be  en- 
abled to  finish  convalescence  elsewhere,  that  the  good  results  of 
hospital  treatment  may  not  be  annulled  by  its  sudden  interrup- 
tion. 

Hospital  machinery  and  the  rush  and  bustle  of  clinics  almost 
obliterate  that  human  touch,  that  personal  and  intimate  relation 
to  their  physician,  which  most  sick  people  need.  The  social 
worker  can,  to  a  certain  extent,  fill  this  lack.  She  can  do  much 
to  make  the  hospital  and  the  visits  of  the  patient  less  grim  and 
discouraging.  The  hospital  physician  has  no  time  to  talk  with 
patients  about  their  plans,  their  discouragements,  their  fears  and 
worries,  as  he  does  with  his  private  patients.  Yet  hospital  pa- 
tients need  this  as  much  as  private  patients,  and  in  many  cases 
cannot  be  cured  without  it.  They  recognize  the  social  worker 
as  part  of  the  hospital,  readily  impart  to  her  confidences  that  they 


44  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

would  withhold  from  most  other  would-be  helpers,  and  receive 
her  advice  with  a  confidence  that  no  one  else  but  the  doctor 
inspires. 

The  social  worker  in  a  hospital  has,  therefore,  a  wonderfully 
favorable  opportunity  to  exercise  any  capacity  for  sympathetic 
listening,  wise  counsel,  and  moral  re-enforcement  that  she  may 
possess.  Many  a  patient  whom  the  doctors  send  to  her  for  advice 
is  at  the  critical  moment  of  his  life.  Never  again,  perhaps,  will 
there  be  so  favorable  an  opportunity  to  influence  his  (or  her) 
whole  future  career.  This  is,  perhaps,  most  strongly  felt  when 
we  face  the  plight  of  the  girl  who  learns  for  the  first  time  at  the 
hospital  that  she  must  face  the  world  as  "fallen,"  or  live  a  life  of 
deception  to  avoid  it. 

PREPARATION. 

The  training  for  social  work  such  as  can  be  had  at  the  Schools 
for  Social  Workers  in  Boston,  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and 
Chicago,  is  the  most  important  study  that  one  can  choose  in  fitting 
one's  self  for  this  work.  A  knowledge  of  nursing  is  also  of  de- 
cided but  of  subordinate  value.  Some  such  acquaintance  with 
physiology,  hygiene,  psychology,  and  sociology  as  can  be  acquired 
in  college,  will  go  a  long  distance  towards  equipping  a  girl  for 
social  work  in  hospitals. 

Yet,  as  in  all  professions,  the  most  important  preparation  is 
to  be  born  for  it,  and  the  next  most  important  is  life  itself, — its 
strains  and  stresses,  its  disciplines  and  its  inspiration. 

REMUNERATION. 

The  salaries  paid  at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  for 
work  of  this  kind  range  from  $700  to  $1,200  a  year.  Those  who 
take  up  the  work  should  beware  of  offers  for  half  time  at  half 
salary.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten  this  means  that  the  worker  is 
gradually  drawn  into  doing  full  time  work  for  half  the  proper 
salary. 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  45 


HOSPITAL  SOCIAL  WORK 

GARNET  ISABEL  PELTON 

ORIGINAL  HEAD-WORKER  IN  THE  SOCIAL  SERVICE  DEPARTMENT  OP  THE  MASSACHUSETTS 
GENERAL  HOSPITAL 

Hospital  social  work,  as  at  present  organized,  has  been  an 
attempt  to  do  chiefly  the  four  following  things: — 

1.  To  connect  patients   obviously  needing   further  assistance 
with  the  proper  relief  agencies. 

2.  When  necessary,  to  follow  up  patients  in  their  homes,  in 
order  to  secure  the  carrying  out  of  the  prescribed  treatment, — a 
task  which  often  includes  the  readjustment  of  home  conditions 
and  the  instruction  of  the  family.     As  such  investigation  is  in 
many  cases  a  valuable  aid  to  diagnosis,  the  hospital  can  turn  out 
more  thorough  work  and  check  the  return  of  patients. 

3.  To  find    out    the     financial    condition   of    needy  patients 
or  those  suspected  of  being  frauds.    The  hospital  trust  funds  de- 
signed for  free  beds  are  thus  administered  more  economically  and 
responsibly.     The  competent  financial  investigator  at  Mt.  Sinai 
Hospital  in  New  York  gets  the  information  required  in  each  case, 
and  gives  wise  and  sympathetic  help  to  such  patients  as  are  really 
needy.     Incidentally,  she  saves  the  hospital  the  amount  of  her 
salary. 

4.  In  general,  to  provide  the  element  of  friendliness  and  per- 
sonal interest,  .which  is  so  likely  to  be  crowded  out  in  the  hurry 
and  routine  of  hospital  work  and  which  is  so  essential  to  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  patient  and  to  successful  treatment. 

A  social  worker  dealing  with  patients  in  the  wards  of  a  hospital 
finds  that  her  largest  task,  besides  referring  patients  to  other 
charities,  is  the  after-care  of  convalescents,  especially  children, 
and  of  chronic  cases.  Convalescence  in  the  homes  of  the  poor 
is  almost  impossible,  and  convalescent  homes  are  scarce,  yet  on 
account  of  the  pressure  of  acute  cases  at  the  hospitals  patients 
are  usually  discharged  when  the  convalescent  stage  is  barely 
reached.  Bad  home  conditions,  with  ignorance  of  hygiene  and 


46  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

of  the  importance  of  care  at  this  period,  bring  a  long  train  of  evils, 
such  as  tuberculosis  and  other  chronic  diseases.  In  such  instances 
the  splendid  effort  of  the  hospital  is  largely  wasted  unless  supple- 
mented by  after-care,  teaching,  and  betterment  of  home  condi- 
tions. Children  still  in  a  delicate  condition,  discharged  to 
ignorant  mothers  and  wretched  homes,  are  a  main  feature  of  this 
difficulty,  and  here  the  hospital  joins  the  infant  mortality  fight. 
With  chronics  the  extra  difficulties  to  be  met  are  those  of  con- 
tinued home  care,  of  occupation  diverting  or  remunerating,  and 
often  of  support.  This  threefold  problem  of  after-care  offers  a 
chance  for  the  study  of  home  and  working  conditions  in  relation 
to  physical  breakdown,  the  value  of  which,  both  to  the  individual 
and  the  community,  it  is  not  easy  to  estimate. 

In  out-patient  departments  or  dispensaries  (the  terms  are  used 
synonymously)  the  greater  number  of  patients  sent  to  the  office 
of  the  Social  Service  Department  by  the  clinic  doctors  need  to  be 
referred  and  piloted  for  specific  help  to  the  proper  sources,  such 
as  different  kinds  of  relief  societies,  special  hospitals,  sanatoriums, 
homes,  interested  individuals,  and  other  benevolent  agencies. 

After  this  first  need  of  linking  the  hospital  with  other  philan- 
thropic agencies,  the  ever-present  problem  of  tuberculosis  is  likely 
to  loom  up  in  a  large  way.  This  is  not  true  in  New  York,  which 
is  thoroughly  districted  with  special  clinics  for  this  disease. 
Where,  however,  the  municipality  does  not  assume  its  control, 
tuberculosis  is  found  in  general  dispensaries  in  all  its  insidious 
forms.  The  doctor  prescribes  entire  rest,  fresh  air,  and  nourish- 
ing food  for  consumptive  patients,  often  giving  them  printed 
directions  emphasizing  in  detail  the  dangers  of  the  disease,  its 
chances  of  cure,  and  its  treatment.  These  printed  slips  do  not 
mention,  and  the  doctor  has  neither  the  time  nor  the  requisite 
information  to  suggest,  how  a  poor  man  living  in  a  crowded  dis- 
trict, and  with  a  family  to  support,  can  carry  out  the  necessary 
treatment.  The  social  worker  is  sent  to  the  home.  Often  it  is 
possible  to  get  the  patient  into  a  hospital  or  sanatorium.  If  not, 
the  worker  gets  acquainted  with  the  family,  learns  its  ties  with 
kindred,  friends,  church,  employers,  and  the  neighborhood,  and 
tries  to  discover  within  the  family  or  among  these  close  interests 
possibilities  of  help  and  ways  of  getting  extra  food,  money,  care, 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  47 

and  hygienic  conditions.  These  forces,  with  further  help  when 
necessary  from  outside  sources,  such  as  a  diet  kitchen  or  a  special 
fund,  she  fits  into  a  plan  that  makes  the  doctor's  treatment  avail- 
able, often  in  the  poorest  home.  She  keeps  a  careful  watch  over 
the  patient  to  see  that  the  prescribed  treatment  is  thoroughly 
carried  out,  and  she  teaches  the  family  the  care  of  the  patient  and 
the  protection  of  themselves. 

The  root  of  much  misery  that  comes  to  the  Social  Service  De- 
partment is  dense  ignorance  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  hygiene. 
The  following  is  not  an  extraordinary  instance.  A  doctor  in 
the  children's  clinic  patiently  instructed  an  anxious  mother  on 
the  care  of  her  only  child,  who  was  being  fed  on  modified 
milk.  The  mother  listened  attentively,  but  she  understood  little 
English  and  less  hygiene.  The  baby  grew  worse,  and  the  social 
worker  was  sent  to  the  home  to  find  out  why.  The  child  lay  in 
a  dark,  unventilated  room,  in  the  back  of  a  basement.  The 
mother  had  given  him  sausage,  the  prescription  of  an  ignorant 
neighbor,  and  the  baby  died.  To  teach  hygiene  in  the  hospital 
and  in  the  home  so  that  patients  shall  be  awakened  to  its  signifi- 
cance and  sacredness  is  a  constant  and  increasingly  interesting 
duty. 

Nervous  disorders,  worry,  depression,  obsession,  phobias,  due 
so  often  to  "faulty  habits  of  mind,"  are  not  uncommon  in  the 
dispensary,  and  often  cause  more  serious  misery  and  social  mal- 
adjustment than  organic  disease.  By  long  talks,  visits,  interest- 
ing occupation,  these  sufferers  are  taught  to  "side-track  their 
thoughts"  and  to  substitute  wholesome  habits  of  body  and  mind. 
Workers  in  charge  of  these  patients  are  beginning  to  receive  special 
training,  particularly  in  psychological  lines. 

Thus  far  hospital  social  work  has  dealt  with  the  sex  problem 
chiefly  in  the  case  of  pregnant  girls.  The  number  reached  is  com- 
paratively small,  but  the  work  is  imperative  and  vital,  and  calls  for 
the  highest  qualities  of  heart  and  mind.  The  girl's  confidence 
and  trust  must  be  won,  so  that  she  can  be  led  to  see  that  her  only 
salvation  lies  in  courageously  grasping  the  very  duties  her  mis- 
fortune has  brought  her, — her  duty  to  her  innocent  child  and  her 
duty  to  be  truthful  to  herself  and  to  those  who  love  her.  Arrange- 
ments must  be  made  for  her  care,  and  work  found  where  she  can 


48  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

keep  her  child.  Until  she  has  grown  sane  and  strong  enough  to 
walk  alone,  she  must  be  kept  under  watchful  protection. 

The  handicapped  who  must  work  are  another  large  group  of 
the  sick  poor.  For  those  hampered  by  physical  weakness  or 
disease,  victims  of  tuberculosis,  heart  disease,  rheumatism,  ner- 
vous weakness,  and  old  age,  the  work  chosen  should  be  approved 
by  a  physician,  and  the  patient  kept  under  his  constant  super- 
vision through  the  offices  of  the  social  worker.  A  man  with  one 
arm  does  not  need  a  doctor's  approval  or  oversight  of  his  work: 
a  man  with  a  weak  heart  does.  The  social  worker  helps  him 
choose  and  get  his  job,  and  here  she  gets  an  opportunity  to  study 
industries  open  and  suited  to  various  classes  of  the  handicapped. 

In  municipal  and  State  hospitals  where  there  are  alcoholic  and 
prison  wards,  there  is  great  opportunity  for  social  work  and  inves- 
tigation in  these  two  groups.  Other  opportunities  for  medical 
social  research  work  are  cropping  up  continually. 

Organized  hospital  social  work  is  being  tried  in  about  30 
hospitals  at  present.  The  number  of  workers  in  each  hospital 
varies  from  1  to  8.  The  idea  is  spreading  and  gathering 
momentum:  many  leading  physicians  and  philanthropists  are 
warmly  in  favor  of  it;  a  session  is  to  be  given  to  the  subject  at 
the  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction  in  June, 
1910. 

In  considering  the  number  of  openings  for  workers,  it  is  merely 
suggestive  to  state  that  according  to  the  last  census  there  were 
1,649  hospitals  and  dispensaries  in  the  country,  and  that  from 
1890  to  1900  hospitals  increased  in  number  in  a  greater  ratio 
than  any  other  group  of  benevolent  institutions.  It  seems 
probable,  therefore,  that  openings  in  this  work  will  steadily 
increase. 

Earnest  purpose,  a  mind  hospitable  to  "all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  men,"  eagerness  for  personal  service  and  for  justice,  especially 
to  the  sick  poor,  the  sympathy  that  builds  up  rather  than  breaks 
down,  imagination,  patience,  tact,  a  sense  of  humor, — all  these 
are  valuable  assets  for  this  work,  for  personality  is  what  counts 
most  in  any  worker.  A  knowledge  of  the  fundamental  laws  of 
health  is  essential,  and  familiarity  with  the  principles  and  sources 
of  relief  and  with  public  hygiene  is  important.  An  acquaintance 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  49 

with  social  problems  and  local  government,  economics,  psychol- 
ogy both  normal  and  abnormal,  German  and  Italian  (which  are 
the  languages  of  the  greater  number  of  our  present  immigrants), 
and  knowledge  of  methods  of  research, — all  are  valuable.  Some 
post-graduate  training,  preferably  at  a  school  of  philanthropy, 
is  a  good  preparation  for  any  part  of  the  work;  but  such  training 
is  not  yet  essential,  and  may  be  gained  by  experience  in  the  work. 
Since  the  work  deals  only  with  those  who  are  sick  in  body  or  mind, 
the  more  nursing  and  medical  experience  that  can  be  brought  to 
it,  in  conjunction  with  broad  education  and  social  training,  the 
richer  will  be  the  service,  both  to  the  patients  and  to  the  com- 
munity. 


THE   SOCIAL  VALUE  OF  RENT  COLLECTING 
LILIAN  MARCHANT  SKINNER* 

WORK  OF  OCTAVIA  HILL. 

Rent  collecting,  or,  to  use  a  larger  name,  the  management  of 
houses,  was  first  undertaken  by  Miss  Octavia  Hill  in  London. 
In  1864  and  1865,  through  Mr.  John  Ruskin,  who  believed  in 
the  soundness  of  her  idea  and  invested  the  necessary  money, 
she  became  the  landlord  of  a  court  of  small  houses. 

Her  plan  was  simple.  She  had  learned  from  her  work  among 
the  poor  that  with  the  increase  of  charities  the  poor  were  in- 
creasingly wanting  in  energy  and  in  self-reliance;  that  in  the  life 
of  cities  the  rich  and  poor  seemed  to  be  growing  farther  apart, 
in  the  places  where  they  lived  and  in  their  way  of  living;  and  that 
natural  human  relations  between  them  were  increasingly  difficult 
to  maintain.  Miss  Hill  believed  that  the  management  of  houses 
would  supply  a  natural  connection,  and  make  possible  with  a 
small  group  of  families  that  friendly  and  intimate  contact 
without  which  we  can  never  know  the  poor  really  well  nor  learn 
their  real  needs. 

*  Miss  Skinner  was  a  volunteer  worker  under  Miss  Hill  during  one  winter  in 
London,  and  for  four  years  managed  houses  under  the  Octavia  Hill  Association  of 
Philadelphia. 


50  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

The  care  of  houses  where  the  people  are  your  tenants  has  in  it 
certain  advantages  which  other  work  among  the  poor  gains  less 
easily. 

First.  The  sense  of  duty  is  founded  on  relationship.  The 
family  are  tenants:  that  fact  implies  your  relation  to  them.  The 
duty  performed  is  not  a  self -chosen  one:  the  tie  is  deeper,  more 
like  the  duty  to  one's  own  home,  to  one's  country. 

Second.     The  work  is  permanent. 

Third.  It  is  definite,  and  continually  demands  not  only  sym- 
pathy, but  action.  The  proper  care  of  houses  requires  constant 
attention  to  small,  very  small  details.  A  broken  lock,  an  over- 
flowing ash-barrel,  a  quarrelsome  neighbor,  a  brutal  husband, — all 
demand  some  action. 

Fourth.  The  duties  are  mutual:  the  tenants  have  duties  to 
you  which  must  be  fulfilled.  The  rent  must  be  paid  regularly, 
and  the  houses  must  be  kept  clean.  There  can  be  none  of  the 
glamour  of  almsgiving  nor  any  sense  of  patronage. 

Miss  Hill's  experiment  was  successful.  Her  work  has  grown 
until  she  and  her  fellow-workers  manage  a  very  large  number  of 
cottages  and  tenements  in  different  parts  of  London.  The  mag- 
nitude of  some  of  her  undertakings  and  the  attitude  of  owners  in 
putting  houses  under  her  care  are  illustrated  in  the  case  of  an  area 
in  Walworth,  a  part  of  the  London  estates  of  the  Ecclesiasti- 
cal Commissioners,  where  recently  a  ninety-nine  year  lease  fell 
in.  The  area  comprised  twenty-two  acres  entirely  covered  by 
small  houses  which  had  to  be  rebuilt  in  order  properly  to  house 
nearly  eight  hundred  families  of  tenants.  The  report  of  the 
Commissioners,  1906,  reads: — 

The  Commissioners  have  recognized  that  the  possession  of  large  areas  of 
land,  situated  in  districts  convenient  for  the  houses  of  the  poorer  classes,, 
has  imposed  upon  them  the  moral  obligation  to  see  that  the  claims  of 
the  working  class  to  be  provided  with  healthy  homes,  in  places  convenient 
for  their  occupations  and  at  reasonable  rents,  should  not  be  neglected. 
There  is,  however,  the  great  difficulty  that  upon  the  grant  of  the  leases 
the  future  management  of  the  houses  necessarily  passes  into  the  hands  of 
the  lessees,  and  the  Commissioners  cannot  effectively  guard  against  the 
evils  of  sub-letting  and  overcrowding,  nor  are  the  many  details  on  which 
the  well-being  of  the  tenant  depends  subject  to  their  control. 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  51 

Therefore,  an  arrangement  has  been  made  by  which  the  actual  super- 
vision and  the  collection  of  the  rents  has  been  delegated  by  the  Commis- 
sioners to  Miss  Octavia  Hill  and  other  ladies  trained  by  her  to  deal  with 
this  particular  class  of  property.  To  Miss  Hill's  part  falls,  beside  the 
collection  of  the  rents,  the  selection  of  tenants,  the  ordering  of  necessary 
tenant's  repairs,  the  general  watchfulness  over  the  maintenance  of  good 
order,  and  against  abuse  of  privileges  among  the  tenants. 

DIRECTION  OF  SUCH  EFFORTS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

In  the  United  States  work  on  similar  lines  has  been  carried  on, 
though  there  has  not  been  that  recognition  of  its  importance 
which  within  the  last  thirty  years  has  led  to  its  being  under- 
taken in  nearly  all  of  the  principal  cities  of  Great  Britain  and  in 
several  on  the  Continent. 

There  are  three  ways  of  improving  housing  conditions  in  cities : 

1.  By  legislative  or  municipal  restrictions. 

2.  By  the  erection  of  new  dwellings,  either  cottages  or  tene- 
ments. 

3.  By  the  improvement  of  existing  houses. 

Miss  Hill's  effort  has  been  toward  the  improvement  of  exist- 
ing houses  and  of  the  tenants  in  them.  The  worst  and  most 
dilapidated  houses  shelter  those  who  most  need  uplift.  In  this 
country  the  few  early  attempts  by  individuals  were  in  general 
on  the  same  lines;  but  the  housing  companies  formed  have  in- 
augurated the  building  of  model  tenements.  Among  such  com- 
panies the  Octavia  Hill  Association  of  Philadelphia  stands  alone 
in  its  continued  attempts  to  get  possession  of  and  to  improve 
existing  houses.  Usually  these  undertakings  combine  two  distinct 
purposes:  the  purpose  to  relieve  overcrowding,  to  gradually 
redeem  the  slum;  and  second,  the  purpose  to  carry  on  a  vital 
form  of  social  work. 

The  beginning  of  such  work  in  this  country  was  made  in  Boston, 
in  1871,  by  a  lady  who  herself  collected  rents  for  ten  years. 
The  Boston  Co-operative  Building  Company  was  formed  with 
the  purpose  to  provide  good  homes  at  a  moderate  cost  for  work- 
ing people.  At  present  the  company  employs  one  woman  agent 
with  three  assistants,  all  trained  under  the  company.  See  Re- 
ports of  the  company,  covering  thirty -nine  years  of  work. 


52  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

In  1876  similar  work  was  begun  in  Brooklyn  by  Mr.  Alfred  T. 
White.  Mr.  White  says: — 

We  did  not  at  first  employ  women  rent  collectors.  Thirty  years  ago 
it  was  difficult  to  find  women  suited  to  such  positions  who  cared  to  act 
as  agents  in  tenement  houses.  For  many  years  now  we  have  been  em- 
ploying women  as  agents  in  both  blocks  of  buildings.  Their  services 
have  averaged  more  satisfactory  than  those  of  men  in  our  work.  Com- 
mon sense,  the  ability  to  keep  simple  accounts,  unfailing  good  nature, 
and  interest  in  such  a  line  of  work  are  essential  qualifications. 

At  present  the  Improved  Dwellings  Company,  organized  by 
Mr.  White,  employs  two  women  agents  who  got  their  training 
simply  by  doing  the  work.  See  pamphlet,  "Better  Homes  for 
Workingmen,"  by  Alfred  T.  White. 

In  1896  the  Octavia  Hill  Association  was  organized  in  Phila- 
delphia, the  work  being  begun  under  the  direct  inspiration  of 
Miss  Hill's  ideas  by  ladies  who  had  themselves  already  bought 
and  managed  certain  tenements  in  the  city.  This  company  is 
the  only  one  to  carry  out  Miss  Hill's  idea  of  volunteer  collectors, 
ladies  who  do  the  work  as  social  service  without  pay,  each  to 
undertake  a  small  group  of  families  in  the  hope  of  establishing 
continuous  and  helpful  intercourse.  Philadelphia  is  especially 
adapted  to  the  association's  policy  of  improving  existing  houses, 
as  overcrowding  is  not  excessive,  large  tenements  have  not  been 
erected  in  very  great  numbers,  and  in  the  older  parts  of  the  city 
many  old  and  well-built  houses  remain.  Since  1906  the  work  of 
the  association,  which  includes  attempts  to  further  legislative 
action,  has  been  in  charge  of  a  man,  but  women  rent  collectors  are 
employed.  See  Annual  Reports  of  the  Octavia  Hill  Association. 

In  the  same  year  that  the  Octavia  Hill  Association  was  organized 
in  Philadelphia,  a  company  in  New  York  began  to  work  on  the 
most  extensive  scale  yet  attempted  in  this  country.  The  City 
and  Suburban  Homes  Company  of  New  York  began  to  build 
and  manage  model  tenements  with  a  capital  of  $1,000,000,  since 
increased  to  $4,000,000.  The  object  of  the  company  is  to  offer 
to  the  savings  of  the  people  a  safe  and  permanent  investment  and 
to  furnish  wage-earners  wholesome  homes  at  current  rates.  Four- 
teen women  are  employed  as  rent  collectors  and  managers  in  its 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  53 

various  buildings.  The  woman  longest  in  the  company's  employ 
was  trained  in  London  in  Miss  Hill's  methods:  the  others  were 
trained  by  the  company.  See  Reports  of  the  City  and  Suburban 
Homes  Company. 

There  are  three  smaller  undertakings  in  New  York  employing 
women  rent  collectors,  two  of  them  being  a  group  of  tenements 
owned  by  ladies. 

NUMBER  OF  OPENINGS. 

A  count  of  these  opportunities  in  New  York,  Brooklyn,  Boston, 
and  Philadelphia,  shows  that  the  number  of  openings  to  women  in 
such  work  is  small.  There  seems,  however,  no  reason  why  such 
work  should  not  be  extended.  Real  estate  firms  with  tenement 
property  might  profitably  employ  women  rent  collectors,  while 
there  is  at  least  one  church  corporation  which  might  well  do  as  the 
Ecclesiastical  Commissioners  (Church  of  England)  have  done. 
The  universal  testimony  from  those  who  have  employed  women 
collectors  is  to  their  efficiency  and  native  adaptation  to  this  work 
of  careful,  patient  service. 

Throughout  the  eastern  part  of  the  United  States,  north  and 
south,  there  are  some  thirty  or  more  instances  of  factories  which 
have  undertaken  improved  housing  for  their  employees,  but 
there  is  no  instance  among  them  of  a  woman  collector.  The 
tenant  comes  to  the  office  of  the  company  with  his  rent  or  the 
company  deducts  rents  from  the  weekly  pay-roll.  Both  of  these 
methods  do  away  with  the  weekly  visit,  the  stronghold  of  the 
careful  manager  of  houses.  The  manager  of  one  manufacturing 
company  writes: — 

.  Some  years  ago,  when  we  were  considering  the  erection  of  some  addi- 
tional tenement  houses,  I  visited  some  three-story  flat  apartments  in 
Boston,  the  rents  of  which  were  collected  by  a  woman  (whom  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  meeting) ,  whose  apparent  aptitude  for  this  work  and  whose 
efficiency  in  securing  results  led  me  to  the  belief  that  in  many  instances 
women  could  be  very  successfully  employed  in  this  vocation. 

Two  New  England  manufacturers  write  as  follows : — 

We  do  not  use  women  rent  collectors,  and  with  tenement  property 
such  as  our  own,  do  not  believe  that  it  would  be  feasible  to  do  so. 


54  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

We  have  never  employed  a  woman  in  this  capacity,  as  we  have  always 
considered  it  a  man's  work.  Our  tenants  are  in  the  main  a  rather  low 
class  of  people,  and  we  would  not  consider  this  position  in  particular  as 
being  one  fitted  for  a  woman. 

It  is  just  such  difficult  property  and  just  such  a  "low  class  of 
people"  which  have  been  benefited  in  England  and  to  a  certain 
extent  in  this  country  by  the  patient  and  continuous  work  of 
ladies  who  bring  to  their  task  not  only  firmness  and  resolution, 
but  gentleness  of  manner  and  of  spirit.  Speaking  of  Miss  Hill's 
work  in  London,  Marshall,  of  Cambridge,  the  great  economist, 
said,  "It  is  work  which  no  man  could  have  done." 

TRAINING  AND  QUALIFICATIONS. 

Training  for  this  work  cannot  be  got  except  by  doing  the  work 
itself,  though  almost  any  form  of  social  work  gives  some  power 
in  dealing  with  people,  which  affords  the  necessary  foothold  in 
the  management  of  houses.  The  chief  qualifications  are  thor- 
oughness, care  and  efficiency  in  accounts,  and  absolute  truthfulness 
and  courtesy  in  dealing  with  the  tenants. 

SALARIES. 

In  some  instances,  especially  when  the  work  was  in  its  beginning, 
salaries  were  paid  by  giving  5  per  cent,  on  all  collections.  This 
seemed  to  limit  the  work  of  the  agent,  as  the  efficient  manage- 
ment of  houses  implies  very  much  more  than  actual  collections 
of  rent,  and  it  was  not  possible  on  this  basis  to  secure  the  services 
of  well-equipped  women.  The  salaries  more  usually  paid  seem 
to  correspond  to  those  in  other  forms  of  social  work,  $600  to  $800  a 
year.  In  the  cases  where  the  service  rendered  is  regarded  as 
clerical  work,  the  salary  is  less.  There  are  a  few  instances  where 
the  work  done  is  so  responsible  in  its  nature  that  a  higher  salary 
is  paid. 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  55 


RENT  COLLECTING  AS  WORK  FOR  WOMEN 
BLANCHE  GEARY 

RENT  COLLECTOR  FOR  THE  CITY  AND  SUBURBAN  HOMES  COMPANY,  NEW  YORK 

Rent  collecting  by  women  should  be  restricted  to  those  who 
are  in  robust  health.  The  work  is  wearing  physically  and  men- 
tally to  the  strongest,  and  is  assuredly  not  for  the  person  who 
breakfasts  on  a  roll  and  lunches  on  an  eclair. 

An  experienced  collector  is  able  to  take  entire  charge  of  prop- 
erty, renting  it,  repairing  it,  and  keeping  its  accounts.  She  must 
know  enough  of  each  house-trade  to  be  able  to  control  her  em- 
ployees (carpenters,  plumbers,  steam-fitters,  engineers,  painters, 
etc.)  and  to  keep  down  expenses  with  a  firm  hand.  The  col- 
lector must  know  each  tenant,  his  or  her  work,  family,  and  sur- 
roundings; she  must  have  a  general  knowledge  of  wages  and  sal- 
aries and  of  local  conditions  of  work;  she  should  be  familiar  with 
the  working  lines  of  the  different  charitable  and  church  agencies, 
the  City  Departments  and  officials.  A  knowledge  of  babies' 
ailments  and  first  aid  is  desirable.  The  collector  should  have  a 
special  gift  for  reading  character,  infinite  patience  and  tact,  and 
should  know  something  of  the  joy  of  understanding  and  of  for- 
giving. 

There  are  many  openings  for  women  rent  collectors.  Several 
are  in  business  for  themselves,  managing  high-class  apartment 
houses  in  New  York  City.  The  owners  of  model  tenements 
employ  women  collectors  and  women  superintendents  at  from 
$12  to  several  times  that  amount  per  week. 

The  training  depends  entirely  on  the  experience  and  character 
of  the  recruit.  Two  years  of  assiduous,  heart-whole  work  should 
train  a  promising  recruit  for  responsibility  at  perhaps  $20  a  week. 

Rent  collecting  for  women  is  hard  work,  but  it  is  immensely 
interesting  and  well  worth  while. 


56  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 


THE  ADVANTAGES  OF  SETTLEMENT  WORK  FOR 

WOMEN 

ROBERT  A.  WOODS 

HEAD-WORKER,  SOUTH  END  HOUSE,  BOSTON 

One  of  the  chief  difficulties  which  confront  the  woman  as  she 
leaves  her  home  to  enter  an  occupation  is  that  she  finds  herself 
unable  to  take  advantage  of  the  domestic  and  neighborly  in- 
stincts and  training  which  have  so  largely  been  the  atmosphere, 
if  not  the  solid  fabric,  of  her  life.  Settlement  work  places  women 
in  a  field  where  their  pre-eminent  capital  has  scarcity  value,  and 
where,  beginning  from  simple  and  familiar  points  of  view,  they 
may  by  the  exercise  of  their  characteristic  and  available  powers 
grow  toward  a  position  of  profound  and  far-reaching  influence  in 
the  community. 

The  reinforcement  of  the  life  of  the  home,  the  reconstruction 
of  the  neighborhood,  the  placing  people,  particularly  the  young, 
in  their  normal  moral  setting  in  the  scheme  of  social  intercourse 
to  which  they  belong, — this  is  the  particular  part  of  the  building 
up  of  the  State  which  is  woman's  peculiar  privilege.  As  applied 
to  a  crowded  neighborhood  of  working  people,  such  service  in- 
cludes a  number  of  specialties,  for  some  of  which  technical  train- 
ing is  desirable, — nursing,  kindergarten  teaching,  cookery,  dress- 
making, physical  culture,  medicine,  management  of  tenement 
houses  and  other  business  enterprises;  but  in  all  of  these,  no  less 
than  in  more  informal  club  work  and  neighborhood  visiting,  the 
capacity  for  easy  and  effective  human  association  is  the  para- 
mount thing. 

Settlement  work  is  a  broader  and  higher  development  of  the 
work  of  charity,  which  has  always  been  understood  to  be  in  a 
special  sense  a  field  for  women's  effort.  Settlement  work  means 
the  application  just  above  the  poverty  line — with  proper  modi- 
fications— of  those  approved  principles  which  scientific  charity 
has  developed  in  its  experience  below  the  poverty  line.  It  rep- 
resents a  deeper  probing  of  the  educational  motive  upon  which 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  57 

women  by  nature  have  the  strongest  hold.  It  has,  in  fact,  done 
much  toward  initiating  the  new  and  inspiring  tendencies  toward 
popular  hygienic  education,  toward  vocational  training,  and 
toward  that  culture  in  the  art  of  democratic  association  which, 
for  the  new  century,  weaves  the  indispensable  network  of  social 
and  public  morality. 

Settlement  work  gives  women  an  indisputable  foothold,  based 
on  expert  knowledge  and  trained  capacity,  in  some  of  the  most 
vital  phases  of  municipal  reform  and  progress.  The  woman  who 
has  the  woman's  sense  of  the  daily  ascertained  facts  as  to  the  needs 
of  the  people  up  and  down  one  street  after  another,  who  has 
the  same  penetrating,  continuous  acquaintance  with  the  service 
rendered  by  the  municipal  departments  up  and  down  those  same 
streets,  holds  in  her  possession  some  of  the  most  valuable  and 
cogent  data  for  the  making  over  of  municipal  administration. 
The  woman  who  goes  from  her  own  home  in  this  normal,  saga- 
cious, strategic  way  is  particularly  well  placed  to  judge  aright  the 
condition  and  prospects  of  the  myriads  of  women,  mostly  girls 
in  fact,  who  are  plunged  into  the  wholly  new  and  confusing 
counter-currents  of  factory  industry  and  wage  competition. 

Settlement  work  is  carried  on  to  some  extent  by  volunteers, 
but  every  settlement  as  it  grows  must  have  a  paid  staff.  Sti- 
pends are,  as  a  rule,  modest,  particularly  at  first;  but  as  the  im- 
portance and  value  of  one's  service  are  fully  demonstrated,  and 
particularly  as  one  develops  originality  and  initiative,  the  recom- 
pense is  on  a  basis  sufficient  to  make  one  properly  free  of  personal 
financial  handicaps. 


58  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 


OPPORTUNITIES  IN  THE  SOCIAL  SETTLEMENT 

MARY  KINGSBURY  SIMKHOVITCH 

HEAD-WOBKER,  GREENWICH  HOUSE,  NEW  YORK 

In  this  brief  statement  I  shall  try  to  point  out  (1)  the  oppor- 
tunities which  the  settlement  presents  to  women  who  desire  to 
enter  social  work  and  at  the  same  time  be  self-supporting,  and 
(2)  the  aspects  of  social  "research"  which  are  especially  available 
through  the  settlement. 

1.  The  opportunities  for  professional  work  in  the  settlement 
will  vary  according  to  the  degree  of  social  differentiation  of  the 
community  in  which  the  settlement  is  situated.  In  a  community 
without  public  kindergartens,  for  example,  the  settlement  will, 
doubtless,  need  a  kindergarten  worker.  The  settlement  cannot 
be  said  to  present  this  avenue  of  opportunity  in  other  than  an 
incidental  way,  however;  as  the  community  develops,  the  settle- 
ment will  no  longer  support  private  kindergartens.  Similarly, 
teachers  of  domestic  science,  doctors,  nurses,  while  they  may 
indeed  form  an  important  part  of  a  settlement  staff,  are  incidental 
to  the  settlement  life,  as  their  service  may  at  any  time  become 
superfluous. 

How,  then,  is  it  possible  or  honest  to  recommend  persons  with 
professional  training  to  engage  in  settlement  work?  On  three 
grounds:  (1)  because  in  some  communities  it  is  fairly  clear  that 
such  work  will  be  needed  for  a  long  period  of  years;  (2)  because, 
even  when  the  city  or  other  associations  take  it  over,  the  settle- 
ment may  still  be  the  best  place  from  which  to  carry  on  the  work, 
though  the  source  of  payment  and  the  responsibility  of  the  work 
have  changed  hands;  (3)  because  the  wide  social  outlook  gained 
at  the  proper  kind  of  settlement  is  very  advantageous  from  a 
professional  point  of  view.  It  is  a  form  of  training  not  possible 
at  the  professional  schools,  for  it  is  the  product  of  an  atmos- 
phere, a  milieu.  The  nurse's  work  at  the  hospital  will  be  one 
kind  of  training:  seeing  her  patients  in  relation  to  their  home 
and  communal  environments  will  be  quite  another.  Similarly, 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  59 

the  student  of  domestic  science  will  receive  training  in  regard  to 
dietaries  at  the  professional  school:  at  the  settlement  she  will 
learn  to  correlate  this  knowledge  with  an  understanding  of  the 
meaning  of  the  standard  of  life  taken  as  a  whole.  As  the  artists 
say,  all  the  elements  in  the  picture  "compose"  at  the  "settle- 
ment. Each  member  of  the  settlement  group  contributes  of 
his  own  knowledge  to  find  it  modified  by  the  knowledge  of 
another. 

Is  there,  then,  any  kind  of  "settlement  work"  which  can  be 
considered  as  a  profession  by  itself,  which  can  be  differentiated 
from  other  forms  of  work,  and  for  which  there  is  any  economic 
demand? 

Settlement  positions  thus  differentiated  reduce  themselves  to 
executive  positions,  and  such  positions  as  are  implied  in  the 
proper  carrying  on  of  executive  work.  That  is,  the  head- worker 
will  need  assistants.  Secretaries  and  stenographers  will  be  neces- 
sary. The  kind  of  training,  therefore,  that  is  desirable  for  one 
who  is  fitted  by  nature  for  this  task  is  training  in  administration. 
"Fitted  by  nature"  implies:  first,  a  fund  of  vital  energy;  second, 
a  social  disposition;  and  third,  a  genuine  liking  of  and  admiration 
for  simple  people.  As  for  training  in  settlement  executive  work, 
it  is  certainly  desirable  that  beginners  expecting  to  be  valuable 
assistants  should  equip  themselves  with  a  command  of  the  type- 
writer, short-hand  also,  if  possible,  a  knowledge  of  simple  book- 
keeping, and  an  understanding  of  modern  office  methods.  If 
this  is  supplemented  by  a  practical  knowledge  of  housekeeping, 
so  much  the  better.  As  intellectual  background  for  this  training, 
one  should  have,  if  possible,  some  knowledge  of  economic  theory 
and  especially  training  in  economic  history, — in  fact,  in  history  and 
literature;  for  the  firm  grasp  of  the  truth  that  theories,  forms, 
and  values  change,  and  that  the  possibility  of  change  is  open  to 
the  present,  is  the  essential  intellectual  equipment  of  the  social 
leader.  The  head  of  the  settlement  will  be  just  so  much  more 
efficient  if  she  has  some  knowledge  of  the  special  office  training 
indicated  for  an  assistant,  but  if  she  cannot  be  thus  specialized, 
she  should,  in  any  case,  know  how  to  bring  the  administration 
work  of  the  settlement  up  to  the  proper  degree  of  efficiency.  She 
should  herself  have  a  rich  background  of  information,  and  should 


60  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

be  equipped  with  a  habit  of  dispensing  with  what  she  has  learned 
as  fast  as  she  finds  it  false  or  unusable.  The  schools  of  philan- 
thropy are  useful  in  giving  much  valuable  information  and  in 
securing  positions  for  graduates.  But  an  understanding  of  those 
great  values  and  forces  which  are  developing  from  below  is 
learned  not  from  such  sources,  but,  if  at  all,  apart  from  experi- 
ence, rather  from  the  bibles,  poets,  novelists,  and  artists  of  the 
world. 

Openings  for  competent  head- workers  are  numerous.  The 
salaries  paid  to  women  are  small.  In  fact,  many  of  these  positions 
are  held  by  unsalaried  women  who  are  averse  to  receiving  payment 
for  this  sort  of  service  or  by  women  who  refuse  to  take  the  proper 
amount  through  a  similar  disinclination.  We  believe  that  this  is 
a  wrong  point  of  view,  as  it  tends  to  keep  down  proper  payment  in 
the  case  of  those  women  who  are  equally  generous  in  spirit,  but 
who  cannot  afford  to  work  for  little  or  nothing,  or  who  do  not  think 
it  right  or  self -respectful  to  do  so.  The  proper  course  for  women 
who  receive  a  small  or  no  salary  would  seem  to  be  to  accept  the 
salary  their  work  merits,  and  then,  in  case  they  care  to  return  it 
to  their  work,  to  do  so.  A  personal  sentiment  ought  not  to  be 
allowed  to  depress  values  for  others.  Women  cannot  expect  at 
present  to  receive  more  than  $1,800  as  head-workers  of  settle- 
ments, or  assistants  more  than  $1,000  or  $1,200.  The  average  is 
much  lower.  Others  engaged  in  professional  work  spoken  of 
above  may  expect  a  salary  somewhat  below  that  which  their 
special  training  would  bring  in  other  positions.  We  think  the 
settlements  should  unite  in  properly  standardizing  salaries,  and 
we  believe  that  this  will  be  done  in  justice  to  the  work  and  to 
coming  workers.* 

*  Standards  do  not  seem  to  be  fixed  in  each  settlement  for  the  various  posi- 
tions, either  for  initial  payment  or  for  rates  of  increase  according  to  time  of  service, 
except  perhaps  for  the  head- worker;  nor  is  there  any  standard  of  payment  among 
the  settlements.  It  is  probable  that  this  irregularity  of  scheme  exists  to  a  more 
marked  degree  in  other  cities  than  in  New  York. 

Returns  from  13  New  York  settlements  show  the  following  results: — 

Number  of  workers  employed,  109.  Head- workers,  13;  assistants,  19;  sec- 
retaries, 4;  stenographers,  3;  paid  club  leaders,  34;  paid  industrial  teachers,  21. 

Compensation  of  workers:  Head-workers:  initial  yearly  salary  to  1  worker,  $500; 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  61 

Another  variety  of  settlement  worker  permanently  needed  is 
the  group  leader — the  club  director.  Group  leadership  is  of  the 
greatest  possible  value.  The  reason  that  the  social  club  is  so 
often  feeble  is  because  it  has  not  had  the  proper  leader  to  develop 
its  own  forms  of  self -direction.  Such  a  leader  may  spring  up  from 
within  the  club,  but  if  this  is  not  the  case,  the  club  leader  from 
the  outside  must  have  within  himself  or  herself  the  capacity  for 
true  leadership.  Such  leaders  we  may  expect  to  find  in  recreation 
centres  of  the  public  schools,  in  the  field  houses  of  the  parks,  but 
also  at  the  settlements,  one  of  the  chief  functions  of  which  con- 
tinues to  be  developing  groups  of  boys  and  girls  till  they  shall 
themselves  become  leaders. 

There  are  openings  in  this  field  for  the  well-equipped  woman 
who  has  a  social  gift  and  a  vigorous  outgoing  personality.  To 
become  such  a  social  club  leader  needs  for  training  a  good  educa- 
tion, vitality,  love  of  people,  and  belief  in  them.  Such  work 
demands  fineness  of  understanding  and  initiative.  It  requires, 
also,  a  liking  for  the  things  that  appeal  to  the  young — motion, 
color,  dancing,  drama,  and  all  kinds  of  festivities — as  well  as  the 
more  serious  strain,  common  to  all,  of  interest  in  the  old  home 
and  in  the  home  to  be,  in  the  wider  groups  of  union,  city,  nation, 
and  race.  For  this  kind  of  social  leadership  there  is  a  real  demand. 
Salaries  paid  range  from  $600  to  $900. 

2.  What  opportunities  does  the  settlement  present  as  a  station 
for  social  "research"? 

The  sort  of  research  that  is  suitable,  feasible,  and  valuable  for 
a  settlement  to  carry  on  is  that  which  is  a  by-product  of  record. 
That  is,  if  the  settlement  be  properly  equipped  with  records  by 
which  a  knowledge  of  the  neighborhood  and  of  neighborhood 
families  be  kept  increasing  from  year  to  year,  the  material  for 

to  2  workers,  $600;  to  1  worker,  $1,000;  to  4  workers,  $1,200:  usual  maximum 
yearly  salary  to  2  workers,  $1,200;  to  3  workers,  $1,600  to  $1,800.  Assistants: 
initial  yearly  salary  to  4  workers,  $500;  to  3  workers,  $600;  to  4  workers,  $720; 
to  3  workers,  $900:  usual  maximum  salary  to  2  workers,  $500;  to  3  workers,  $720; 
to  5  workers,  $900;  to  4  workers,  $1,000  to  $1,200.  Secretaries  receive  $600  to 
$700  initial  salary,  and  $720  to  $900  usual  maximum  salary.  Club  leaders  re- 
ceive $60  to  $75  per  month,  or  $2  to  $2.50  per  hour  or  evening.  Industrial 
teachers  receive  $600  to  $900  per  year,  or  $2  to  $2.50  per  hour  or  lesson.— ED. 


62  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

"research"  would  be  at  hand  without  relying  upon  the  sporadic 
"investigator."  The  social  investigator  has  become  so  frequent 
as  to  be  a  real  pest.  If  all  the  requests  of  all  the  investigators — 
even  the  really  good  ones — were  to  be  answered  by  the  settle- 
ments, the  settlements  would  have  to  stop  all  their  own  work 
to  make  reply.  And  yet,  that  the  settlements  have  accumulated 
a  vast  amount  of  socially  useful  material  which  is  not  available 
and  which  should  be  available  cannot  be  doubted.  The  trouble 
lies  in  the  way  in  which  this  material  gets  accumulated  and 
registered,  first,  in  the  brains  and  hearts  of  the  workers,  and 
second,  in  a  most  imperfect  record.  In  the  former  way  it  may 
find  expression  in  some  large,  effective,  and  artistic  form,  as  in  the 
case  of  Miss  Addams's  books,  or  it  may  be  lost  entirely  from  lack 
of  expression.  In  the  second  way  it  is  at  best  only  partially  use- 
ful, often  not  at  all. 

The  highest  type  of  "research"  is  the  transmuted  artistic  ex- 
pression of  research  we  find  in  the  occasional  literary  productions 
of  settlement  residents;  the  next  best  thing  is  the  continuous 
record,  not  yet  existent  to  any  extent,  but  likely  to  be  kept  in 
the  future;  and  the  third  and  least  desirable  form  is  the  occasional 
investigation.  For  this  last  form  there  will  be  some  demand, 
from  time  to  time,  as  needs  indicate.  Those  who  are  equipped 
for  social  research  in  any  field  will  be  competent  to  conduct  some 
occasional  settlement  investigations,  but  will  work  to  greater 
advantage  if  they  have  been  in  residence  in  the  given  community 
for  some  time  previous  to  the  investigation.  It  is  necessary  to 
learn  the  relative  importance  of  facts  to  be  ascertained  and  how 
to  recognize  their  validity  when  registered.  Training  in  this 
field  is  at  present  fragmentary,  but  it  is  to  be  had  in  some  settle- 
ments, and  at  some  colleges  and  schools  of  philanthropy. 

To  sum  up,  the  college  girl  who  desires  to  enter  a  settlement, 
there  to  undertake  her  life's  work,  would  better  get  such  training 
as  will  lead  to  taking  an  executive  position  of  responsibility.  If 
she  desires  to  engage  in  any  special  branch  of  work  now  under- 
taken by  settlements,  such  as  nursing,  cooking,  etc.,  she  should 
get  the  best  possible  professional  training,  which  will  always  stand 
her  in  good  stead  even  though  the  settlement  should  give  up 
that  kind  of  work.  If  she  desires  to  do  research  work,  the  settle- 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  63 

ment  offers  but  a  limited  opportunity,  as  its  own  research  work  of 
greatest  value  consists  of  bringing  together  its  registered  or  un- 
registered experience.  To  become  an  assistant,  either  in  a  per- 
manent position  or  with  the  hope  of  rising  to  be  in  charge  of  a 
settlement,  special  training  in  office  work  and  administration  is 
desirable. 


WELFARE  WORK  AND  THE  WELFARE  WORKER  FROM 
THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  OF  THE  BUSINESS  HOUSE 

Welfare  work,  as  it  is  carried  on  in  business  houses,  manu- 
facturing establishments,  etc.,  is  in  the  main  an  effort  to  secure 
improved  conditions  of  labor.  It  is  an  effort  also  in  part  to  raise 
the  employee  to  a  higher  point  of  efficiency,  both  for  his  own  good 
and  for  that  of  the  employer.  It  is  a  recognition  by  the  em- 
ployer that  what  benefits  the  employee  benefits  him,  and  it  is 
expected  to  promote,  on  the  other  hand,  a  recognition  by  the 
employee  that  the  best  interest  of  the  employer  is  the  best  in- 
terest of  the  employee,  and  that  what  hurts  the  employer  directly 
or  indirectly  hurts  the  employee. 

Welfare  work  is  either  philanthropic  or  co-operative.  It  is 
sometimes  a  purely  philanthropic  scheme  of  the  employer,  who 
appropriates  his  money  to  it  precisely  as  he  does  to  the  Asso- 
ciated Charity.  The  more  progressive  business  man,  on  the  other 
hand,  reckons  it  purely  as  a  good  business  proposition  for  secur- 
ing the  best  service  from  his  employees,  and  realizes  that  this 
business  value  is  in  danger  of  being  lost  the  minute  he  allows  his 
welfare  work  to  become  either  charity  or  advertising.  This 
difference  in  welfare  work  is  shown,  however,  not  so  much  in 
different  lines  of  activity  as  in  the  different  ways  in  which  prac- 
tically the  same  things  are  done.  One  employer  does  the  welfare 
work  for  his  people,  while  the  other  helps,  organizes,  and  inspires 
them  to  do  for  themselves  co-operatively  such  things  as  appeal 
to  their  tastes  and  needs.  The  main  effort  of  this  kind  is  to  help 
the  individual  help  himself. 


64  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

Welfare  work  has  come  to  include  whatever  can  be  done  to 
benefit : — 

PHYSICAL  CONDITION  OF  THE  EMPLOYEE. 

Sickness  in  the  establishment  itself  must  be  taken  care  of,  and 
in  many  places  a  trained  nurse  is  in  constant  attendance  in  a 
sick-room  to  treat  and  advise.  Often  a  minor  ill  is  cured,  and 
the  patient  rendered  fit  to  perform  a  regular  day's  work.  In 
old  days  this  frequently  meant  a  day  at  home,  with  consequent 
loss  of  money  to  the  employee  and  of  service  to  the  employer. 
A  patient  in  a  really  serious  condition  is  directed  to  a  reputable 
physician.  Arrangements  may  also  be  made  to  secure  the  ser- 
vices of  physicians  free  of  charge  to  the  employees.  Outside  of 
the  establishment  sick  employees  need  attention  to  see  that  they 
are  not  lying  neglected  in  lodging  houses  or  for  some  other  cause 
suffering  from  lack  of  proper  care 

In  addition  to  the  sick-room,  rest  and  recreation  rooms  are 
frequently  provided  for  the  noon  hours,  where  the  employees 
may  enjoy  reading,  dancing,  and  games. 

Gymnasium  classes,  dancing  classes,  baths,  are  included  in  this 
division. 

Hygienic  working  conditions  in  the  building  itself  need  watch- 
ful care, — sanitary  toilets,  good  ventilation,  light,  etc. 

Home  conditions  and  personal  mode  of  living  may  be  in- 
fluenced by  friendly  advice  or  example.  In  communities  where 
employees  live  together,  prizes  may  be  offered  for  the  best  garden, 
neatest  yard,  etc.,  or  perhaps  there  is  a  neighborhood  visitor. 
If  the  houses  are  owned  by  the  corporation,  sanitary  conditions 
can  be  more  carefully  taken  care  of. 

ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS. 

Mutual  benefit  organizations  to  protect  the  employee  from 
total  loss  of  income  during  sickness  are  the  most  common  of  the 
efforts  made  in  this  group.  Savings  departments  encourage  self- 
protection  and  frugality.  Loan  departments  save  the  employee 
from  the  clutches  of  money  sharks  and  do  away  with  the  habit  of 
borrowing  among  fellow-employees.  They  may  give  assistance 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  65 

and  advice  to  employees  in  choosing  investments  for  their  money. 
They  may  be  helpful  in  finding  rooms,  houses,  or  in  finding  ten- 
ants for  rooms.  Systems  can  be  worked  out  for  co-operative  buy- 
ing. Anything  which  gives  the  individual  the  most  for  his  money 
or  helps  him  to  take  care  of  his  money  is  legitimate  welfare  work. 
Lunch-rooms  whose  aim  is  to  give  the  best  food  for  the  least 
money  belong  in  this  division. 

EDUCATION. 

This  includes  technical  instruction  in  the  special  work  of  the 
employee,  and  general  education  through  public  evening  schools 
or  by  classes  carried  on  at  the  direction  of  the  employer.  In 
many  instances,  educational  and  social  work  are  combined  in 
such  forms  as  lectures,  reading  clubs,  debating  societies,  current 
events  circles,  libraries,  and  the  like. 

SOCIAL  LIFE. 

Dances,  entertainments,  lectures,  glee  clubs,  dramatic  clubs, 
and  all  other  schemes  that  may  be  devised  to  bring  the  employees 
together  in  a  friendly  social  way,  making  them  know  one  another 
better,  are  made  use  of  as  means  of  securing  a  pleasanter  atmos- 
phere in  working  together. 

MENTAL  CONDITIONS. 

Secure  justice  for  employees;  give  them  a  voice  in  their  gov- 
ernment; let  them  arbitrate  their  grievances;  have  an  arbitra- 
tion board  and  back  up  its  decisions.  This  is  the  way  of 
the  most  progressive  houses.  In  most  cases  the  welfare  worker 
stands  as  an  intermediary  or  arbitrator  between  the  manage- 
ment and  the  employees.  In  many  instances  all  that  is  neces- 
sary is  to  act  as  a  safety-valve  for  pent  up  feelings  of  imaginary 
injustice.  This  work  is  not  less  valuable  than  when  the  injustice 
is  real. 

Little  acts  of  friendliness,  letters,  visits  or  flowers  in  cases  of 
illness  or  trouble,  and  such  other  proofs  of  interest  as  opportunity 
may  offer,  are  very  real  helps  toward  keeping  an  atmosphere  of 
content. 


66  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

All  these  things  come  under  the  care  and  attention  of  a  wel- 
fare worker.  She  may  be  obliged  to  furnish  ideas  and  enthusiasm, 
and  then  do  all  the  work;  she  may  be  able  to  delegate  all  or  parts 
of  the  practical  duties — and  this  is  a  better  way.  In  either  case 
she  must  furnish  the  impetus,  must  see  that  everything  runs 
smoothly,  and  that  it  keeps  going;  she  must  be  ready  at  any  mo- 
ment to  step  in  where  there  is  a  lack  or  weakness  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  any  part  of  the  work. 

While  this  formal  or  mechanical  kind  of  work  may  be  consigned 
to  some  one  else,  the  personal,  friendly  touch  can  never  be  dele- 
gated. The  welfare  worker  must  know  as  a  friend  every  one 
with  whom  she  is  working.  She  should  be  able  to  call  them  by 
name,  and  should  keep  in  touch  with  their  outside  life,  their 
pleasures  or  difficulties.  She  must  win  their  confidence,  never 
force  it,  never  betray  it.  She  must  never  show  favoritism 
in  her  friendships,  much  less  in  her  efforts  to  help.  She 
must  not  be  too  much  or  too  little  influenced  by  stories  of 
trouble  that  come  to  her  ear,  but  must  measure  up  the  case  by 
some  standard,  discounting  or  enlarging  until  she  can  get  the 
actual  facts.  She  must  not  set  the  standard  of  assistance  too 
high,  else  she  will  not  be  able  to  live  up  to  it  in  some  cases  of 
great  trouble. 

As  an  arbitrator  she  must  not  only  be  able  to  see  the  employee's 
side,  but  must  be  well  informed  as  to  the  existing  conditions,, 
irrespective  of  either  side,  and  she  must  be  in  touch  with  the  em- 
ployer's point  of  view.  She  must  herself  keep  in  mind  the  prin- 
ciple which  she  is  trying  to  impress  on  others,  that  the  interests  of 
employer  and  employee  are  identical.  She  is  not  an  attorney 
for  the  employee,  regardless  of  the  truth  of  the  matter.  She  is 
expected  to  see  that  justice  is  done  the  employee,  and  she  may 
plead  for  leniency  when  she  believes  leniency  is  wise.  In  case  of 
doubt,  she  should  do  her  best  to  strengthen  the  side  of  the  em- 
ployee, for  it  is  naturally  supposed  that  the  employer  has  the 
stronger  side. 

The  qualities  usually  sought  in  a  welfare  worker  are  a  large 
sympathy,  a  keen  insight  into  human  nature,  tactfulness,  adapta- 
bility, excellent  health,  initiative,  sound  judgment,  absolute  re- 
sponsibility. 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC   SERVICE  67 

Training  for  this  kind  of  work  can  best  be  secured  by  working 
and  observing  as  an  apprentice  with  a  successful  welfare  manager. 
In  most  cases  this  apprenticeship  has  been  not  longer  than  three 
months  and  under  only  one  master.  Because  of  the  newness  of 
the  work,  and  the  variation  of  method,  it  would  be  far  better  for 
the  training  to  extend  over  six  months  and  be  taken  under  two 
or  more  practical  workers. 

There  is  a  natural  tendency  to  prefer  college  women  for  this 
work.  It  requires  at  least  a  general  education  in  evolutionary 
science,  history  and  civics,  sociology,  ethics,  literature.  Special 
preparation  may  be  desirable  in  physical  culture,  hygiene,  li- 
brary system,  principles  of  law,  domestic  science,  business  prin- 
ciples and  system,  etc.,  the  value  of  any  line  of  special  training 
depending  upon  the  class  of  employees  and  the  line  of  work  to  be 
emphasized.  Some  meagre  attention  to  the  theory  and  history 
of  welfare  work  is  given  by  such  schools  as  train  more  particularly 
for  charity  and  philanthropic  work. 

The  wages  of  welfare  workers  range  from  $1,000  to  $3,000  a 
year,  the  less  figure  being  by  far  the  most  common. 

An  idea  of  the  number  of  openings  may  be  gained  from  the 
following  list  of  some  of  the  kinds  of  businesses  which  have  a 
welfare  manager:  carriage  springs  company,  celluloid  workers, 
confectioners,  cordage  company,  cotton  mills,  cravat  manufact- 
urer, department  store,  drill,  sheetings  manufacturers,  dyers  and 
bleachers,  electrical  companies,  food  companies,  insurance  com- 
panies, jewelry  manufacturers,  laundries,  locomotive  company, 
lumber  company,  machine  makers,  marble  company,  mathemat- 
ical instrument  manufacturers,  overall  manufacturers,  paint 
factory,  paper  box  companies,  pickle  factories,  potters,  printing 
press,  publishing  company,  shoe  factories,  soap  makers,  steam 
railroads,  street  railroads,  wire  rope  manufacturers. 


68  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 


THE  YOUNG  WOMEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION 

ELIZABETH  WILSON 

SECRETARY  OF  THE  NATIONAL  BOARD 

The  Young  Women's  Christian  Association  is  a  world-wide 
organization,  which  has  for  its  purpose  the  voluntary  association 
of  young  women  for  their  physical,  social,  intellectual,  and  spir- 
itual development.  Such  associations  exist  in  cities,  in  student 
centres,  in  industrial  and  rural  communities.  The  administration 
is  in  the  hands  of  volunteer  workers  (active  members,  elected  to 
serve  on  boards  of  directors,  cabinets,  and  committees)  and  of 
salaried  workers  called  secretaries  or  department  directors.  The 
secretaries  are  trained  executive  officers  who  investigate  condi- 
tions, advise  with  volunteer  workers,  and  execute  the  measures 
decided  upon  in  board  and  committee  meetings.  At  the  present 
time  American  secretaries  are  serving  in  London,  in  Paris,  in 
Australia,  in  Japan,  China,  India,  and  South  America. 

There  are  26  secretaries  of  the  National  Board,  whose  duties 
are  the  general  administration  for  the  National  Board  and  its 
work  of  summer  conferences,  training  for  secretaries,  develop- 
ment of  plans  for  work  in  State  universities  and  professional 
schools,  Bible  teaching  in  college  associations,  work  in  factories, 
mill  villages,  rural  districts,  physical  education,  erection  of  build- 
ings, etc.  There  is  also  a  national  office  staff,  in  which  the  ma- 
jority of  the  department  office  secretaries,  as  well  as  of  the  regular 
secretaries  of  the  National  Board,  hold  college  degrees.  For  the 
State  and  Territorial  committees,  with  headquarters  in  New  York, 
Los  Angeles,  Chicago,  Charlotte,  etc.,  35  secretaries  are  engaged 
in  visitation  of  local  associations  to  which  they  hold  advisory 
relations.  Thirty-eight  universities  and  colleges  employ  a  general 
secretary,  and  one  university  (Illinois)  employs  also  a  Bible  study 
director.  In  the  192  city  associations  of  the  country,  women  are 
engaged  in  various  executive,  religious,  industrial,  educational,  and 
domestic  capacities.  A  few  women  are  engaged  in  the  mill  villages 
now  carrying  on  Young  Women's  Christian  Association  work,  and 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  69 

one  county  (Woodford  County,  Illinois)  is  sufficiently  organized 
to  employ  a  secretary  for  its  small  towns  and  country  districts. 

There  are  probably  about  800  or  900  positions  for  which  col- 
lege women,  with  distinct  professional  training  also,  are  eligible. 
Many  of  these  positions  are  now  filled  by  women  lacking  the  de- 
sired educational  foundation.  Others  are  vacant  because  women 
of  the  right  calibre  and  training  or  experience  are  not  available. 
Each  year  fully  15  per  cent,  of  these  positions  must  be  filled  by 
incoming  workers. 

The  varied  duties  of  all  these  positions  demand  that  the  salaried 
officers,  before  they  think  of  preparing  for  professional  work,  have 
well-proved  executive  ability  in  those  affairs  in  which  they  have 
been  naturally  interested;  good  physical  health  and  nervous 
poise;  a  mind  not  only  well  informed,  but  vigorous  in  grasping 
new  situations;  a  genuine  social  sense  and  a  wholesome  sympathy 
and  interest  in  young  women  and  girls;  an  attractive,  natural 
Christian  life,  and  willingness  to  co-operate  with  religious  and 
social  forward  movements. 

As  a  preparation  for  entering  this  work  for  the  first  time,  a 
college  education  is  thought  desirable.  In  the  last  few  years,  too, 
the  question  of  professional  training  has  secured  a  great  deal  of 
attention,  since  the  largest  success  of  the  whole  movement  was 
felt  to  depend  upon  properly  prepared  executive  officers.  The 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  has  for  some  time  maintained 
two  training  schools,  one  in  Springfield,  Mass.,  the  other  in  Chi- 
cago, 111.  When  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Associations  of 
the  United  States  of  America  were  formed  in  1906,  the  National 
Board  took  over  the  Secretaries'  Training  Institute  originally 
opened  by  the  American  Committee  in  Chicago,  and  then  in  1908 
discontinued  this,  and  opened  a  National  Training  School  at  3 
Gramercy  Park,  New  York  City,  with  a  system  of  preparatory 
training  centres  throughout  the  country. 

The  National  Training  School  is  designed  for  trained  workers 
or  women  of  experience  in  other  movements,  desirous  of  entering 
the  Young  Women's  Christian  Association.  A  two  years'  course 
is  offered  for  religious  work  directors,  a  one  year's  course  for  city 
general  secretaries,  student  general  secretaries,  industrial,  state 
and  territorial,  and  foreign  secretaries. 


70  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

The  young  woman  just  graduating  from  college,  if  sufficiently 
mature,  is  advised  to  enter  the  training  centre  conducted  by  the 
State  or  Territorial  Committee  in  her  own  locality.  This  is  a 
three  months'  term  of  practical  work  in  a  large  association,  where 
a  slight  course  of  study  is  pursued,  which  fits  the  student  to  take 
a  minor  position,  with  salary,  or  to  enter  the  National  Training 
School  to  prepare  for  a  position  of  large  responsibility.  The 
actual  expense  involved  during  the  three  months'  training-centre 
course  is  about  one  hundred  dollars.  The  expense  of  a  year  at 
the  National  Training  School  is  $350,  which  includes  tuition, 
board,  and  lodging. 

The  general  association  has  as  yet  made  no  provision  for  ele- 
mentary training  for  physical  directors  and  teachers  of  domestic 
science  and  domestic  art,  but  the  Secretarial  Department  comes 
into  communication  with  the  best  normal  schools  of  these  sub- 
jects, and  refers  workers  to  vacancies  throughout  the  country. 

It  is  hoped  that  no  young  woman  may  take  a  position  immedi- 
ately after  her  preparatory  training  at  a  smaller  salary  than 
$600  per  year,  or  after  the  National  Training  School  course  for 
less  than  from  $900  to  $1,200.  The  range  of  salaries  extends  at 
present  as  high  as  $2,300  for  general  supervisory  work  and  $1,800 
for  local.  Many  associations  have  instituted  a  regular  scale  of 
annual  increase,  and  when  a  secretary  -enters  a  new  position,  it  is 
customary  for  her  to  receive  a  larger  salary  than  in  the  previous 
one.  There  must  also  be  taken  into  account  the  number  and 
character  of  extra  advantages  or  perquisites  possible  in  connection 
with  the  conferences  and  conventions  to  which  the  secretary  is 
usually  sent  with  expenses  paid. 

Printed  matter — The  Catalogue  of  the  National  Training 
School,  The  Training  Centre,  The  Executive  of  the  Association, 
etc. — 'will  be  sent  upon  application  to  the  Secretarial  Department, 
125  East  27th  Street,  New  York  City. 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  71 


NURSING 
LILLIAN  D.  WALD 

HEAD-WORKER,  HENRY  STREET  SETTLEMENT  (NURSES'  SETTLEMENT),  NEW  YORK 

The  work  of  Florence  Nightingale  some  fifty  years  ago  brought 
to  the  rank  of  a  profession  an  occupation  which  through  the  ages 
has  proved  to  be  one  peculiarly  adapted  to  women.  Times  have 
changed  since  the  pioneer  days  of  Miss  Nightingale,  and  many 
vocational  opportunities  have  been  granted  to  women  that  in 
her  day  were  deemed  unsuitable,  for  economic  and  social  changes 
have  played  their  part  in  freeing  women  from  artificial  limitations. 
To-day  nursing  in  itself  is,  as  it  has  always  been,  a  profession 
that  calls  into  play  the  high  qualities  inherent  in  many  women, 
but  far  greater  scope  is  given  for  diversified  application  of  these 
qualities. 

HOSPITAL  SUPERINTENDENTS. 

In  America  especially,  since  the  social  welfare  movements  have 
become  prominent,  the  demand  for  women  of  general  education 
and  special  hospital  training  has  thus  far  exceeded  the  numbers 
equipped  for  such  positions.  Attractive  and  responsible  ad- 
ministrative, educational,  and  executive  positions  are  offered,  and 
as  yet  with  no  adequate  source  of  supply.  Increasing  numbers  of 
women  are  being  selected  as  superintendents  of  hospitals.  Within 
the  last  fifteen  years  the  numbers  of  such  positions  offered  to 
nurses  has  increased  100  per  cent.,  and  the  salaries  com- 
pare very  favorably  with  those  of  other  educational  and  execu- 
tive posts.  They  range  from  $1,000  with  board,  laundry,  etc.,  to 
$2,500,  and  although  the  small  hospitals  pay  less,  their  directors 
express  a  readiness  to  pay  the  higher  salary  to  competent  women. 
Qualifications  for  such  positions  are  knowledge  of  intelligent  pur- 
chasing of  supplies  of  all  kinds,  practical  knowledge  of  the  appli- 
cation of  the  science  of  food  to  human  needs,  administrative 
ability,  which  includes  tact,  culture,  and  good  judgment,  and 
teaching  faculty,  in  addition  to  the  nurse's  training. 


72  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

TRAINING  SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENTS. 

Superintendency  of  training  schools  calls  for  knowledge  of 
pedagogy,  and  the  opportunities  for  good  class  work  are  not  sur- 
passed by  those  of  any  educational  position.  In  this  instance 
the  power  to  teach  organization  and  to  transmit  knowledge  that 
can  be  related  to  practical  work  is  essential.  These  positions  are 
capable  of  being  made  influential  and  distinguished  in  proportion 
to  the  capacity  of  the  one  in  charge  to  command  respect  and 
deference  for  herself  and  her  position.  Fortunately,  instruction 
in  the  training  schools  is  not  yet  conventionalized,  and  there  are 
opportunities  for  original  methods  and  creative  work. 

HEAD-NURSE.    TEACHER-NURSE.    DIETITIAN. 

In  addition  to  superintendents'  positions  numerous  openings 
are  offered  in  institutions  to  teacher-nurses.  Changes  brought 
about  in  the  administration  of  hospitals  have  necessitated  this, 
and  the  development  of  preparatory  courses  for  nurse-pupils  pre- 
sents a  new  field  for  the  graduate  nurse  who  has  special  aptitude 
for  teaching.  Institutions  of  many  kinds  call  for  the  skilled 
dietitian.  Many  demand  that  she  shall  also  be  a  nurse.  Special 
hospital  colonies,  camp  sanatoria  for  the  tuberculous,  schools  for 
children  predisposed  to  this  disease,  orphanages,  institutions  for 
the  feeble-minded  and  the  epileptic,  for  the  blind,  the  crippled, 
and  the  sub-normal,  are  asking  for  instructors  and  supervisors 
who  are  also  nurses. 

PREVENTIVE  SOCIAL  WELFARE  WORK. 

Perhaps  the  work  that  is  most  attractive  to  the  educated  woman 
who  is  also  a  trained  nurse  is  that  presented  in  the  broad  field  of 
preventive  social  work,  and  in  this  there  seems  to  be  no  limit  to 
her  opportunities.  District  nursing  includes  many,  if  not  all,  of 
these.  The  nurse  engaged  in  this  work  has  always  had  great 
social  opportunities,  and  she  has  expressed  herself  more  or  less  in 
the  moral  movements  of  her  time.  Living  in  the  settlement, 
working  jointly  with  the  other  forces  for  social  progress,  has 
widened  out  her  horizon  and  attracted  attention  to  the  district 
nurse's  potentialities.  Medical  inspection  in  the  public  schools 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SERVICE  73 

has  been  expanded  through  the  addition  of  the  nurse.  Practical 
teaching  and  nursing  in  the  tuberculosis  campaign  has  been,  and 
is,  to  a  large  extent,  in  her  hands.  The  direction  and  active  par- 
ticipation in  the  movement  for  pure  milk,  factory  inspection, 
tenement-house  inspection,  and  probation  work,  are  but  a  few 
of  the  preventive  social  measures  that  have  increased  the  in- 
terest and  exercised  the  faculties  of  the  nurse. 

STATE  AND  MUNICIPAL  SERVICE. 

The  rapid  increase  in  America  in  the  past  five  years  of  the  so- 
cially trained  nurse  is  prophetic  of  the  future.  State  and  muni- 
cipality engage  the  nurse  at  present.  They  will  need  her  in- 
creasingly. Her  work  has  the  appeal  of  humanitarianism,  of 
being  essentially  prophylactic,  educational,  and  socially  con- 
structive. The  training  schools  attached  to  the  important  hos- 
pitals are  in  the  hands  of  able  people,  alive  to  the  demands  of  the 
day.  They  welcome  the  students  who  come  with  adequate 
mental  training,  able  to  keep  the  profession  in  its  high  place  and 
ready  to  push  it  on  to  meet  new  demands. 


II 

SCIENTIFIC    WORK 


WOMEN   TRAINED   IN  CHEMISTRY 
JAMES  F.  NORRIS 

PROFESSOR  OF  CHEMISTRY,  SIMMONS  COLLEGE 

The  number  of  women  engaged  in  the  practice  of  chemistry  is 
relatively  small  on  account  of  the  fact  that  but  few  have  pre- 
pared themselves  for  work  in  this  field.  Women  have  proved 
their  worth  as  chemists.  It  is  the  belief  of  the  writer  that  many 
places  are  open  to  those  who  are  well  trained  in  the  science. 

In  considering  the  advisability  of  selecting  chemistry  as  a  life- 
work,  certain  important  facts  must  be  borne  in  mind : — 

1.  A  woman  must  have  excellent  health  and  be  able  to  with- 
stand fatigue  in  order  to  accomplish  what  is  required  of  her. 
The  work  which  she  will  be  called  upon  to  do  consists  largely  of 
experimentation  in  the  laboratory.     This  makes  it  necessary,  in 
many  cases,  to  stand  for  most  of  the  working  hours. 

2.  Adequate  preparation  for  the  work  is  obtained  only  as  the 
result  of  thorough  and  comprehensive  training.     In  entering  the 
field  of  chemistry,  women  are,  in  most  instances,  coming  directly 
into  competition  with  men,  and  if  they  are  to  make  a  place  for 
themselves,  they  must  be  as  well  prepared.     Adequate  prepara- 
tion to  gain  a  livelihood  through  the  practice  of  chemistry  requires 
at  least  four  years'  study. 

3.  The  pecuniary  reward  is  not  large,  although  successful  work 
yields  a  good  living.     In  many  positions  open  to  women  the  work 
is  varied,  and  is  of  such  a  nature  that  it  appeals  strongly  to  one 
who  is  interested  in  science. 

4.  In    order    to    practise  chemistry   successfully,  the  woman 
should  have  a  certain  adaptability  to  the  work:  a  special  type  of 

74 


SCIENTIFIC  WORK  75 

mind  is  required.  One  who  is  to  do  successful  work  in  chemistry 
must  have  the  power  to  reason  logically  and  the  ability  to  observe 
clearly.  These  important  qualifications  are  developed  during  the 
study  of  the  science,  but  this  study  should  be  undertaken  only 
by  those  who  have  given  some  evidence  that  they  possess  the 
type  of  mind  required. 

The  most  practical  positions  open  to  women  well  trained  in 
chemistry  are  those  in  manufacturing  establishments.  The 
writer  is  acquainted  with  women  who  have  filled  with  success  the 
positions  of  chemist  in  a  woollen  mill,  soap  factory,  electrical 
works,  and  a  razor  factory.  Such  positions  require  hard  work, 
and  not  many  women  enter  this  field.  Within  a  year  the  head  of 
the  research  department  of  a  large  manufacturing  establishment 
was  seeking  a  woman  to  put  in  charge  of  the  analytical  laboratory 
connected  with  the  department.  The  work  had  been  under  the 
direction  of  a  woman,  and  the  results  were  so  satisfactory  that 
the  employer  was  anxious  to  fill  the  vacancy,  caused  by  resigna- 
tion, by  the  appointment  of  another  woman. 

Other  opportunities  are  in  the  field  of  sanitary  chemistry. 
Women  are  employed  in  the  laboratories  of  the  State  Boards  of 
Health.  Positions  in  private  laboratories  of  sanitary  engineers 
are  also  available.  The  laboratory  work  in  the  chemical  and 
biological  examination  of  water  by  a  well-known  engineer  is  done 
by  a  woman. 

There  is  opportunity  for  women  to  secure  remunerative  posi- 
tions under  the  United  States  Government  in  the  Department  of 
Agriculture.  These  positions  involve  work  of  various  types  from 
that  of  assistant  to  that  of  research  chemist.  An  important  re- 
search laboratory  of  the  Department,  which  deals  with  the  sub- 
ject of  food  preservation,  is  under  the  direction  of  a  woman. 

Women  who  develop  a  keen  interest  in  chemistry  during  their 
study  and  show  a  special  adaptability  .may  find  interesting 
work  as  research  assistants.  There  are  not  many  such  positions 
available  at  present,  but  the  number  is  increasing.  Work  of  this 
kind  is,  perhaps,  the  most  interesting  that  can  be  undertaken, 
as  there  is  no  set  routine  and  the  nature  of  the  laboratory  work 
changes  from  day  to  day.  The  interest  is  enhanced  by  the  fact 
that  the  results  obtained  are  additions  to  the  science. 


76  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

From  the  experience  of  the  last  few  years  it  is  evident  that  there 
is  developing  a  need  for  women  to  act  as  scientific  secretaries.  In 
some  positions  the  work  is  largely  secretarial,  as  in  the  case  of  a 
secretary  to  an  author  who  is  writing  a  book  on  a  scientific  sub- 
ject. In  others  the  work  is  largely  experimental.  In  order  to 
fill  such  positions,  a  woman  must  have  a  knowledge  of  the  duties 
of  a  secretary  and  some  training  in  science  as  well. 

The  compensation  which  is  received  for  the  high  grade  of  work 
necessary  in  such  positions  is  small,  and  not  at  all  commensurate 
with  the  training  required  to  fit  one  for  such  work.  The  highest 
salaries  are  received  by  those  who  enter  the  more  practical  posi- 
tions, where  the  duties  are  the  most  arduous.  Research  assist- 
ants and  scientific  secretaries  receive  the  smallest  compensation. 
In  such  positions  the  work  required  is  not  so  trying,  and  the  sur- 
roundings are  more  congenial.  The  salary  received  the  first  year 
after  the  completion  of  one's  training  is  usually  $400  to  $600. 
Last  year  a  woman  who  had  had  two  years'  experience  was 
appointed  to  the  position  of  scientific  secretary  at  a  salary  of 
$1,000,  and  a  position  was  open  at  a  salary  of  $1,200  to  a  woman 
who  was  trained  as  an  analytical  chemist.  Only  in  exceptional 
cases  and  in  positions  under  the  Government  will  the  compensa- 
tion exceed  $1,000. 


WOMEN  TRAINED  IN  BIOLOGY 

PERCY  G.  STILES 

ASSISTANT  PBOFEBSOB  OF  PHYSIOLOGY,  SIMMONS  COLLEGE 

While  it  is  the  object  of  the  present  article  to  suggest  some  posi- 
tions outside  the  teaching  profession  in  which  trained  women 
may  find  congenial  work,  the  writer  cannot  refrain  from  stating 
at  the  outset  his  conviction  that  teaching  is  by  far  the  most 
remunerative  occupation  in  which  such  women  can  engage. 
Many  of  the  other  pursuits  which  are  to  be  mentioned  may  be 
followed  simultaneously  with  teaching. 

Biological  education  may  have  a  general  character,  and  furnish 


SCIENTIFIC  WORK  77 

the  preparation  needed  for  the  teaching  of  nature  study  or  high- 
school  science.  It  may  be  preliminary  to  a  course  in  medicine. 
But  it  will  usually  develop  a  specialty.  We  may  therefore  con- 
sider successively  the  chief  branches  of  biology,  and  the  nature 
of  the  openings  to  which  they  lead. 

Anatomy  and  Histology.  The  study  of  these  sciences  fits  for 
comparatively  few  situations.  If  the  graduate  does  not  wish  to 
teach,  there  remains  the  possibility  of  assisting  professors  of  these 
subjects.  The  preparation  of  slides  for  microscopic  work  calls 
for  considerable  manual  skill  and  theoretical  knowledge.  Such 
slides  are  required  in  large  numbers  for  classes  in  medical  schools, 
for  pathologists  working  in  connection  with  hospitals,  and  for 
investigators  in  agricultural  colleges  and  experiment  stations. 
Assistants  in  this  line  may  add  somewhat  to  their  income  by 
selling  sets  of  histological  and  embryological  preparations,  as 
there  is  some  demand  for  them  from  schools  which  are  not 
equipped  to  make  their  own. 

Botany,  Forestry,  and  Horticulture.  Now  and  then  a  civil  ser- 
vice position  calling  for  an  incumbent  educated  in  these  sciences 
becomes  available.  Agricultural  experiment  stations  may  employ 
a  small  number  of  such  women. 

Bacteriology.  A  thorough  training  in  this  branch,  including 
both  its  medical  and  non-medical  aspects,  should  open  the  way  to 
a  variety  of  occupations.  Indoor  positions  in  laboratories  of 
Boards  of  Health,  both  of  States  and  of  large  cities,  may  be  well 
filled  by  women,  though  but  few  are  yet  so  filled.  For  these  situ- 
ations, training  in  chemical  analysis  must  accompany  the  mastery 
of  bacteriological  technique.  The  duties  will  comprise  the  testing 
of  water  and  milk,  diagnostic  procedures,  and  perhaps  the  prepa- 
ration of  anti-toxins,  vaccines,  etc.  Separate  laboratories  under 
private  management  exist  for  the  last-named  purpose,  and  may 
give  work  to  women  in  the  future.  Bacteriologists  are  now  em- 
ployed by  milk  contractors  to  see  to  it  that  the  milk  meets  the 
legal  requirements.  Women  can  do  this  work  when  it  does  not 
demand  too  much  travel  and  exposure  in  collecting  samples. 
More  agreeable  positions  may  be  found  in  connection  with  model 
dairies  producing  certified  or  other  special  milk.  The  number  of 
these  is  rapidly  increasing,  and  each  must  employ  the  services 


78  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

of  an  up-to-date  bacteriologist.  A  single  farm,  however,  is  not 
likely  to  absorb  more  than  a  part  of  the  specialist's  time.  A 
woman  who  has  some  capital  and  business  faculty,  besides  scien- 
tific knowledge,  may  become  the  mistress  of  such  a  dairy.  Re- 
search in  bacteriology  is  enlisting  a  number  of  trained  workers 
on  the  Rockefeller  and  other  foundations. 

Physiology.  Education  in  this  science  leads  usually  to  teaching 
or  to  the  position  of  research  assistant  with  some  professor  of  the 
subject.  It  is  also  an  excellent  approach  to  the  wide  field  of 
physical  training.  Specialization  in  pharmacology  may  fit  one 
for  an  occasional  opening  under  the  Government  or  with  manu- 
facturing chemists  where  the  testing  and  standardizing  of  drugs 
is  carried  on. 

Zoology.  A  command  of  this  branch  of  biology  may  qualify 
the  student  for  research  and  in  exceptional  cases  for  the  service 
of  the  Government,  conceivably  in  the  investigation  of  insect 
pests  or  in  the  work  of  the  Fish  Commission. 

Composite  Equipment.  In  a  few  instances,  women  have  secured 
a  good  general  training  in  biology  and  at  the  same  time  have 
qualified  in  stenography  and  typewriting.  It  is  evident  that  this 
combination  enables  one  to  be  exceptionally  useful  to  a  busy 
professor,  especially  if  he  is  a  writer  of  scientific  books  and  pam- 
phlets. Such  an  assistant  may  be  of  still  greater  service  if  she  has 
a  reading  knowledge  of  technical  French  and  German,  so  that 
she  can  prepare  abstracts  of  biological  literature.  Facility  in 
drawing  is  another  asset  enabling  one  to  prepare  illustrations  for 
articles  or  to  make  charts  with  an  intelligence  impossible  to  the 
ordinary  draftsman.  Skill  in  photography  may  be  valuable  in 
some  situations. 

Salaries.  The  college  graduate  who  has  made  as  much  as  pos- 
sible of  her  biology  should  receive  at  once  a  minimum  salary  of 
$600.  Advances  upon  this  figure  will  usually  be  slow.  Here,  as 
elsewhere,  the  worker  must  find  her  highest  reward  in  the  intrinsic 
interest  of  her  vocation. 


SCIENTIFIC   WORK  79 


OPPORTUNITIES   FOR   WOMEN    IN   THE    MUSEUM 
OF   NATURAL   HISTORY 

The  fact  that  there  are  opportunities  for  women  in  museum 
work  is  shown  by  the  conditions  in  the  Museum  of  Natural 
History,  New  York. 

1.  Members  of  the  Scientific  Staff.     There  are  no  women  cura- 
tors,  but  two  women  now  serve  on  the  regular   scientific  staff. 
They  were  appointed  because  they   are  very  able   specialists, 
probably  as  good  as  any  in  the  country  in  a  small  branch  of 
their  subject.     No  doubt  others  will  be  appointed  in  other  de- 
partments when  women  are  found  with  such  special  power  and 
knowledge.    The  museum  has  no  rule  in  these  matters,  and  does 
not  draw  the  sex  line.     There  is  no  uniform  basis  for  salaries; 
men  and  women  are  paid  according  to  their  ability  from  $1,500 
to  $1,800. 

2.  Research  and  Editorial  Assistants.    There  are  two  assistants 
with  special  biological  training  in  one  department,  a  woman  and 
a  man.     The  work  consists  chiefly  in  aiding  the  curator  in  get- 
ting out  publications,  in  studying   specimens,  reviewing   litera- 
ture, making  abstracts  and  translations,  and  superintending  the 
illustration  and  publication  of  books  and  papers.     The  salary  of 
these  assistants  is  $1,500. 

3.  Museum   Instructor.     There   is   one   instructor   at  present, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  conduct  classes  for  children  on  the  basis  of  the 
collections  and  to  explain  exhibits  to  visitors  on  request.     The 
salary    varies    with    the    ability    of   the    woman,    but  is  about 
$1,200. 

4.  Secretaries.     There  are  ten  or  fifteen  secretaries  in  the  mu- 
seum.    The  maximum  salary  is  $1,200;   that  commonly  paid, 
$800  or  $1,000. 

5.  Recording  Secretaries.     These  women  do  only   cataloguing 
and  filing.     The  maximum  salary  is  $1,000. 

6.  Librarians  and  Library  Assistants.     These  women  need  some 
library  training.    The  salaries  of  the  former  are  $1,000  to  $1,200; 
of  the  latter,  $500  to  $800,  approximately. 


80  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

7.  Book-binders.    These  women  do  hand  binding.    Their  salary 
is  about  $600  or  $700.     Photograph  binders  are  paid  about  the 
same  salary. 

8.  Illustrators.     Their  work  is  chiefly  in  pen  and  ink,  but  in- 
cludes also  some  wash  drawings  of  scientific  specimens  and  also 
map  drawings.      They  are  paid  50  cents  to  70  cents  per  hour 
according  to  their  skill. 

Coloring  slides  and  transparencies  is  paid  at  about  the  same 
rate. 

9.  Makers   of  Artificial  Flowers,   etc.,   for   exhibition   groups. 
The  maximum  salary  is  $1,000.     For  this  work  it  is  necessary  to 
serve  an  apprenticeship  of  several  weeks  or  months  in  the  museum 
without  pay.     No  training  other  than  this  is  required,  though 
some  acquaintance  with  plants  is  desirable. 

Theoretically,  every  position  in  this  museum  is  open  to 
women,  and  as  the  above  report  shows,  women  specially  trained 
in  science  are  now  holding  places  of  responsibility,  while  many 
more  with  less  specialized  training  are  filling  minor  positions. 


Ill 

DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  AND  ARTS 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE 


THE   FIELD   OF  DOMESTIC  SCIENCE 

HELEN  KINNE 

PROFESSOR  OF  DOMESTIC  SCIENCE,  TEACHERS  COLLEGE,  NEW  YORK 

The  rapid  growth  of  the  Home  Economics  movement  in  the  last 
quarter  century,  meeting,  as  it  does,  a  social  and  economic  need, 
has  opened  to  women  a  number  of  business  occupations  that  are 
both  remunerative  and  satisfying  to  the  individual.  This  paper 
is  confined  to  a  discussion  of  those  occupations  for  which  Domes- 
tic Science  gives  training. 

The  teaching  field  in  Domestic  Science  is  so  far  the  most  fully 
developed.  It  should  be  stated  at  once  that  it  is  unwise  for  any 
woman  to  devote  herself  at  the  beginning  of  her  work  to  Domestic 
Science  alone,  since  the  present  demand  is  in  most  cases  for  a 
woman  who  can  teach  the  subjects  included  in  this  field  and  some 
of  those  connected  with  the  textile  arts.  This  work  is  now  found 
in  all  grades  of  the  lower  schools,  and  also  in  colleges  and  univer- 
sities. There  is  now  scarcely  an  institution  of  a  philanthropic 
nature  that  does  not  include  work  along  these  lines,  so  that  in 
settlements  and  in  church  work  and  in  industrial  schools  of  all 
kinds  some  form  of  the  subject  is  given.  A  college  graduate  who 
has  had  strong  courses  in  sciences  has  the  necessary  grounding 
for  her  work.  These  sciences  should  include  biology,  chemistry 
(both  inorganic  and  organic),  physics,  and  also  sociology  and 
economics.  Her  special  training  in  advance  of  this  should  in- 
clude nutrition  and  dietetics,  sanitation  and  hygiene,  the  practi- 

81 


82  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

cal  study  of  the  household  arts,  supplementary  and  applied 
work  in  economics  and  sociology,  and  methods  of  teaching.  Such 
a  course  in  Home  Economics  may  be  found  in  several  training 
schools  and  colleges. 

It  may  be  that  the  younger  college  women,  after  taking  train- 
ing in  Home  Economics,  will  need  to  spend  a  year  or  so  in  the 
elementary  field  to  gain  the  experience  in  teaching  that  most 
superintendents  and  supervisors  now  require.  This,  however, 
should  not  be  looked  upon  as  a  hardship,  for  there  is  great  need 
of  strong  work  in  Home  Economics  in  the  elementary  schools  of 
this  country.  It  is  here,  indeed,  that  one  perhaps  comes  most 
closely  in  contact  with  the  actual  problems  of  the  people,  because 
comparatively  few  of  our  young  girls  pass  beyond  the  elementary 
school.  In  the  elementary  schools  the  salaries  range  from  $800 
to  $1,200  a  year.  A  young  woman  working  in  an  elementary 
school  has  the  possibility  of  advance  along  two  lines.  If  she  has 
business  ability  and  the  power  to  deal  with  people,  and  can  take 
some  advanced  training,  she  may  become  supervisor  of  either 
Domestic  Science  or  Domestic  Art,  or  both.  Of  course,  these  posi- 
tions are  somewhat  rare  and  require  maturity,  and  are  something 
for  the  future  rather  than  for  the  young  woman  just  leaving  col- 
lege. The  salary  of  a  city  supervisor  now  ranges  from  $2,000  to 
$3,000  a  year. 

The  secondary  field  is  now  affording  rich  opportunities  for 
the  teaching  of  Domestic  Science.  Technical  and  practical  arts 
high  schools  are  springing  up  all  over  the  country,  and  many  high 
schools  of  the  older  type  are  introducing  the  subject.  In  the 
practical  arts  high  schools  the  subject  is  designed  not  only  to 
train  the  pupils  for  home  life,  but  also  to  give  them  something 
which  may  serve  as  a  means  of  gaining  a  livelihood.  The  High 
School  of  Practical  Arts,  Dorchester,  Mass.,  is  of  this  type.  In 
the  general  or  classical  high  school  the  subject  is  given  as  train- 
ing for  the  home,  and  is  usually  developed  more  along  scientific 
lines.  Only  a  woman  with  a  very  strong  practical  tendency 
should  go  into  industrial  work.  This  term  is  used  as  meaning 
something  rather  different  from  the  work  given  in  the  practical 
arts  high  school.  Work,  for  instance,  in  a  State  reformatory  is 
of  a  decidedly  industrial  character.  It  is  given  to  older  women 


DOMESTIC   SCIENCE  AND  ARTS  83 

in  order  to  train  them  in  carrying  on  the  work  of  the  institution 
or  to  give  them  a  respectable  trade  when  they  leave  the  institu- 
tion. In  industrial  work  of  this  character  and  in  settlement 
work  a  keen  interest  in  one's  fellow-beings  is  an  absolute  essential; 
not  only  that,  but  the  power  of  insight,  the  ability  to  meet  people 
on  their  own  ground. 

In  college  and  university  work  there  is  a  place  for  the  young 
woman  whose  interest  is  along  these  lines,  but  who  perhaps  has 
the  more  scholarly  bent.  For  college  and  university  work  the 
training  in  sciences  should  be  more  severe  than  that  given  in  the 
ordinary  undergraduate  course.  Our  best  training  schools  are 
now  offering  advanced  work  under  able  instructors,  which 
counts  for  an  M.A.  or  even  a  Ph.D.  Although  our  training 
schools  are  graduating  an  increasing  number  of  candidates 
for  such  positions,  the  supply  of  thoroughly  efficient  and  well- 
trained  teachers  has  not  yet  equalled  the  demand.  Salaries  vary 
in  different  parts  of  the  country  for  secondary  and  college  teaching, 
and  the  cost  of  living  in  a  given  locality  must  always  be  taken 
into  account.  They  compare  favorably  with  teachers'  salaries 
in  general,  and  range  from  $800  for  the  inexperienced  assistant 
to  $2,500  or  $3,000  for  the  head  of  a  college  department. 

But  there  are  other  fields  than  teaching  for  the  woman  trained 
in  Domestic  Science.  The  value  of  applied  science  is  steadily 
gaining  recognition.  The  great  interest  in  nutrition  manifest 
in  so  many  quarters  has  given  a  new  interpretation  to  the  posi- 
tion of  matron  or  supervisor  of  the  dining-room  of  the  large 
institution.  For  many  years  practical  women  have  done  good 
work  as  stewards  and  housekeepers.  But,  on  the  whole,  the 
dietaries  of  our  college  and  school  dormitories  and  even  of  our 
hospitals  have  fallen  far  short  of  the  requirements  for  proper 
nutrition.  This  is  felt  so  strongly  in  most  progressive  institu- 
tions that  the  dietitian  is  coming  to  rank  with  members  of  the 
teaching  staff;  and  in  our  hospitals  severe  training  is  required 
in  preparation.  With  the  demand  for  practical  women  who  also 
have  training  on  the  scientific  side  there  has  happily  come  an 
increase  in  the  salary.  A  letter  written  on  April  8,  1909,  from 
a  hospital  committee  (of  an  institution  of  good  standing  in  the 
West)  says: 


84  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

We  want  a  woman  (as  Superintendent  of  Hospital  Economics)  who 
is  more  highly  trained  and  more  capable  than  those  who  commonly  fill 
positions  as  housekeepers  or  matrons  of  hospitals.  In  a  word,  we  want 
a  domestic  scientist  trained,  to  a  certain  degree,  for  institution  work, — 
one  who  will  bring  scientific  principles  to  bear  upon  the  conduct  of  all 
the  domestic  affairs  of  the  hospital,  including  service,  kitchens,  laundries, 
food  supplies,  dietaries,  and  the  teaching  of  dietetics.  .  .  .  We  expect 
to  pay  a  salary  of  about  $1,200  a  year  in  addition  to  living  expenses. 

It  is  hardly  fair  to  say  that  such  a  salary  as  this  is  given  in  all 
cases;  but  taking  into  account  the  fact  that  all  living  expenses 
are  paid,  including  laundry,  a  salary  of  $800  in  addition  to  this 
is  very  fair,  compared  with  salaries  in  other  occupations.  It 
must  be  noted  that  no  college  training,  and  no  training  in  any 
Domestic  Science  school  in  mere  subject-matter,  is  sufficient  for 
such  a  position.  Practical  experience  as  an  apprentice  in  the 
workings  of  an  institution  is  absolutely  essential  at  the  very  be- 
ginning. A  few  of  our  institutions  where  Domestic  Science  is 
taught  are  now  opening  up  courses  in  Institutional  Management, 
where  actual  experience  will  be  given  in  dealing  with  the  problems 
of  the  institution.  A  three  months'  course  is  also  open  to  a  lim- 
ited number  of  students  in  the  Department  of  Charities  of  New 
York  City,  where  a  young  woman  who  has  had  a  course  in  Domes- 
tic Science  may  have  practical  work  in  institutional  kitchens 
for  this  length  of  time.  This  is  certainly  an  excellent  field  for 
the  scientifically  trained  and  thoroughly  practical  young  woman. 
It  is  said  by  a  number  of  instructors  engaged  in  Domestic  Sci- 
ence training  schools  that  the  supply  of  competent  women  is 
not  equal  to  the  demand  for  trained  dietitians. 

The  demand  in  our  large  cities  for  lunch-rooms  near  the  centre 
of  business  also  affords  opportunity  for  the  enterprising  young 
woman.  We  are  all  familiar  with  the  fact  that  tea-rooms  and 
lunch-rooms  are  springing  up  on  almost  every  corner  in  certain 
localities  in  many  of  our  large  cities.  In  many  cases  these  are 
run  successfully  by  women  who  have  had  no  training  outside  of 
that  to  be  found  in  practical  housekeeping.  One  of  the  most 
successful  enterprises  of  this  kind  is  conducted  by  a  young  woman 
in  Boston  who  is  a  college  graduate.  She  became  assistant  in 
a  large  and  well-conducted  lunch-room  in  a  Western  city,  and  then 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE   AND  ARTS  85 

began  in  a  small  way  in  Boston.  She  has  now  one  of  the  most 
successful  groups  of  lunch-rooms  in  the  country.  It  is,  of  course, 
necessary  to  have  capital,  and  it  is  here  that  many  young  women 
would  find  difficulty.  But  at  least  at  the  beginning  a  young  woman 
could  act  as  an  assistant  in  some  such  enterprise  and  perhaps 
launch  out  for  herself  later.  As  yet  the  statistics  are  incomplete 
in  regard  to  this  work.  This  is  a  field  that  needs  further  inves- 
tigation. 

Catering  is  perhaps  somewhat  more  precarious,  since  a  woman 
must  know  her  locality  well  before  she  can  work  up  any  large 
amount  of  business;  and  unless  she  is  known  in  a  neighborhood, 
it  might  be  difficult  for  her  at  first  to  make  her  way.  There  is  no 
doubt,  however,  that  this  is  a  growing  field.  This  and  the  selling 
of  cooked  food  have  hardly  developed  as  yet  into  trades  or  occupa- 
tions, but  in  every  city  will  be  found  some  few  women  who  have 
worked  up  a  remunerative  business.  Both  in  lunch-room  work 
and  in  catering  one  needs  to  know  the  business  field  and  business 
methods,  and  in  catering  one  must  be  an  expert  in  social  usage. 

Laundering  is  not  treated  in  this  article,  but  this  is  doubtless 
a  field  that  will  develop  in  the  future.  Altogether,  in  the  group 
of  occupations  for  which  a  Domestic  Science  course  would  give 
training,  there  is  abundant  opportunity  for  the  young  woman 
with  initiative  and  business  ability. 


THE  INSTITUTIONAL  DIETITIAN 

FLORENCE  R.  CORBETT 

INSTRUCTOR  AT  TEACHERS  COLLEGE,  DIETITIAN  AND  HEAD  OF  WHITTIER  HALL  DINING- 
ROOMS,  CONSULTING  DIETITIAN  TO  DEPARTMENT  OF  PUBLIC  CHARITIES 
or  NEW  YORK  CITY 

THE  FIELD  OF  WORK. 

The  institutional  dietitian  finds  work  in  various  divisions  of 
the  dietary  or  the  food  administration  department  of  the  insti- 
tution, but  is  most  useful  when  she  is  prepared,  by  reason  of 
native  ability,  special  training,  and  experience,  to  undertake  the 
supervision  of  the  entire  dietary  department  and  all  the  phases 


86  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

of  food  administration  in  the  institution.  Whenever  the  in- 
stitution is  of  such  size  (census  over  two  hundred)  that  it  is  im- 
possible for  one  person  to  supervise  successfully  the  detail  work 
of  the  dietary  department,  the  organization  is  strengthened  by 
giving  assistance  to  the  capable  director  rather  than  by 
dividing  the  responsibility.  Where,  for  any  reason,  it  is  found 
impracticable  to  give  over  the  entire  food  administration  to  one 
person,  the  trained  dietitian  is  found  to  be  useful  in  supervising 
smaller  fields  or  divisions  of  work  in  the  dietary  department  of 
the  institution;  as,  for  example,  the  preparation  of  special  diet 
for  ward  patients  and  private  patients  in  hospitals,  the  prepara- 
tion of  all  food  for  private  patients,  or  the  supervision  of  some  one 
kitchen  or  group  of  kitchens,  or  in  the  instruction  of  classes  of 
nurses  in  dietetics. 

THE  DEMAND  AND  REMUNERATION. 

Until  recently  the  greater  demand  for  women  trained  to  under- 
take work  of  this  nature  has  been  from  hospitals  and  charitable 
or  semi-charitable  institutions.  The  remuneration  for  this  work 
has  been  at  the  minimum  about  $40  per  month,  with  room,  board, 
and  laundry;  the  average  salary  for  a  responsible  position  has 
been  about  $75  per  month,  with  room,  board,  and  laundry;  and 
the  higher  salaries  were  from  $1,200  a  year  up,  with  full  mainte- 
nance. 

There  has  recently  arisen  a  demand  for  women  trained  in  food 
administration  to  take  charge  of  this  work  in  high-class  restau- 
rants, lunch-rooms,  apartment  hotels,  clubs,  summer  hotels,  and 
similar  commercial  enterprises.  In  these  fields  of  work  the  sal- 
aries are  more  nearly  commensurate  with  the  responsibility  in- 
volved in  the  handling  of  the  large  amounts  of  supplies  and  of 
money. 

THE  TRAINING. 

The  training  required  in  preparation  for  work  of  the  sort  de- 
scribed must  include  thorough  grounding  in  the  natural  sciences, 
in  economics,  in  food  selection,  preparation,  and  service;  in  die- 
tetics, as  represented  in  the  selection  and  preparation  of  food  in 
health  and  disease  and  in  various  conditions  of  life;  the  study  of 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  AND  :  ARTS  87 

education  and  pedagogy,  which  will  enable  the  student  to  teach 
her  subject  successfully  to  classes  of  nurses,  to  her  own  employees 
when  necessary,  as  it  often  is,  and  to  her  own  pupil  dietitians  or 
apprentice  dietitians.  In  addition  to  all  the  theory  involved  and 
its  application  in  the  laboratory,  she  must  have  the  opportunity 
to  practise  the  principles  taught  her  in  some  actual  field  of  work, 
as  a  hospital  or  school,  for  a  period  of  six  months  or  more,  under 
the  direction  of  an  experienced  dietitian.  The  problems  to  be  met 
in  the  actual  field  of  work  are  such  as  cannot  be  duplicated  else- 
where: the  solving  of  these  depends  upon  the  dietitian's  judg- 
ment, which  must  be  formed  by  training  plus  experience.  On 
the  successful  handling  of  these  problems  depend  the  comfort 
and  well-being  of  all  residents  of  the  institution,  the  financial 
security  of  the  dietary  department,  the  harmony  of  administra- 
tive relations  which  facilitates  work,  and,  therefore,  the  dieti- 
tian's success  in  her  work.  Only  experience,  added  to  training, 
will  enable  the  dietitian  to  adjust  herself  to  institutional  life  and 
discipline,  and  to  act  wisely  in  the  problems  involving  discipline 
which  arise  in  her  own  department  among  her  employees;  only 
experience  will  enable  her  to  make  successful  application  of  the 
theories  and  principles  involved  in  the  modification  of  dietaries 
and  the  regulation  of  expenditure  for  supplies  in  large  quantities. 
These  matters  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  "beside  the  question": 
they  are  vital  in  every  institution,  and  by  their  handling  the  die- 
titian's work  stands  or  falls. 


THE   VISITING  DIETITIAN 

WINIFRED  STUART  GIBBS 

NEW  YORK  ASSOCIATION  FOR  IMPROVING  THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  POOR 

Popular  education  in  dietetics  is  a  three-year-old  experiment 
in  New  York  City.  The  instruction  is  given  in  the  tenement 
houses  by  a  visiting  dietitian,  under  the  auspices  of  the  oldest 
relief  association  of  the  city.  It  is  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to 
sketch  the  possibilities  of  this  work  as  a  field  for  trained  dieti- 
tians. 


88  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

A  momentary  view  of  conditions  will  settle  the  question  as  to 
whether  a  trained  worker  is  a  necessity.  As  the  work  is  carried 
on  in  New  York,  the  teacher  enters  the  home,  enlists  the  interest 
of  the  house-mother,  and  then,  with  the  family  income  as  a  work- 
ing basis,  proceeds  to  construct  as  rational  a  family  dietary  as  is 
possible  with  resources  at  hand.  This  is  followed  by  lessons  in 
proper  preparation  of  the  food.  To  carry  on  this  work  successfully 
a  woman  should  be  capable  of  taking  the  large  view  of  current 
social  problems.  She  should  be  willing  to  let  her  work  be  merged 
in  the  other  activities  which  are  on  foot  with  social  improvement 
as  their  goal.  She  must  be  able,  by  force  of  her  very  training  and 
personality,  to  rouse  the  women  to  active  interest,  and  she  must 
be  ready  to  forestall  rebuffs  and,  if  necessary,  to  gain  her  point 
by  sheer  doggedness.  The  dietitian  who  has  her  eyes  opened  to 
the  relation  her  profession  bears  to  the  really  vital  things  realizes 
that  here  is  a  field  of  work  running  parallel  to  that  of  the  school- 
room, and  that  the  problem  of  feeding  the  workingman's  family, 
with  the  workingman's  income  as  a  sole  dependence,  is  complex 
enough  to  keep  her  wits  well  sharpened.  The  visiting  dietitian 
may  make  her  work  of  distinct  economic  value  if,  by  teaching  the 
dependent  family  to  use  every  resource,  she  helps  them  to  plant 
their  feet  firmly  beyond  the  "poverty  line." 

The  instruction  necessarily  varies  with  each  family's  needs. 
If  the  father  is  tubercular,  the  children  anaemic,  and  the  mother 
rheumatic,  all  these  features  enter  into  the  final  working  out  of 
the  problem.  Instruction  can  very  often  be  most  effectively 
carried  on  in  groups,  one  mother  playing  hostess  to  a  group  of 
friends:  if  the  housekeeper  is  a  "little  mother,"  she  can  be  helped 
in  the  same  way,  provided  her  friends  are  sufficiently  interested 
to  take  the  lessons  seriously.  The  work  of  the  visiting  nurse  can 
often  be  supplemented  in  a  most  helpful  manner,  as,  after  acute 
symptoms  are  relieved,  the  case  is  often  one  where  diet  is  all 
important  in  effecting  a  cure.  Experience  has  proved  that  the 
maximum  of  results  is  obtained  if  the  teaching  is  illustrated  by 
concrete  examples  of  possible  dietaries.  It  is  necessary  to  keep 
constantly  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  family  resources  are,  first, 
last,  and  all  the  time,  to  be  considered.  This  is  so  important  that 
it  is  continually  emphasized  in  the  present  paper. 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  AND  ARTS  89 

Little  has  been  said  of  the  food  question  itself,  as  it  is  taken 
for  granted  that  a  dietitian  undertaking  this  work  would  be 
equipped  with  the  necessary  knowledge  of  dietetics,  and  that  she 
would  take  as  her  watchword  "the  maximum  of  nourishment  for 
the  minimum  of  outlay."  She  would  also  acquaint  herself  thor- 
oughly with  the  prices  of  food-stuffs  in  the  territory  wherein  she 
planned  to  work. 

The  final  effectiveness  of  work  like  this  would  be  much  im- 
paired unless  co-operation  with  other  agencies  was  sought. 
Public  school  lunch-rooms,  mothers'  clubs,  settlement  classes, 
etc.,  all  offer  possible  avenues  for  spreading  its  usefulness,  as  in- 
terest may  be  roused  through  these  channels,  and  detailed  in- 
struction in  the  homes  is  the  logical  outcome. 


INSTITUTIONAL  MANAGEMENT 

JULIET  C.  PATTERSON 

SUPERINTENDENT,  BOSTON  YOUNG  WOMEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION  HOME 

Institutional  management  is  concerned  with  two  kinds  of  insti- 
tutions : — 

A.  Educational,  including  charitable  and  corrective  institu- 
tions, for  these  should  have  an  ultimate  educational  end. 

B.  Business  concerns,  such  as  hotels,  public  cafeterias,  lunch- 
rooms, tea-rooms. 

This  paper  is  concerned  with  institutional  management  in  edu- 
cational institutions. 

I.  Positions  may  be  roughly  divided  into  three  classes: — 
1.  Superintendents  or  matrons  of  college  dormitories.  Most 
of  the  Eastern  colleges  have  established  dormitories  for  girls,  and 
the  Western  colleges  and  State  universities  are  coming  to  appre- 
ciate the  need  for  them.  Sometimes  the  dean  and  sometimes  the 
matron  has  the  general  direction  of  all  the  dormitories,  and  the 
girls  are  personally  responsible  to  her.  When  the  number  of 
girls  is  large  and  the  dormitories  under  one  management,  a  special 
superintendent  has  immediate  charge  of  the  housekeeping  depart- 


90  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

ment,  the  catering,  buying,  care  of  the  buildings,  oversight  of 
servants,  business  management.  In  this  large  group  of  positions 
should  be  included  the  matrons  in  boarding-schools  for  girls  and 
boys,  as  well  as  the  managers  of  dining  halls,  cafeterias,  lunch- 
rooms, for  colleges  and  schools. 

In  much  of  this  work  the  demand  is  for  a  liberal  education,  for 
the  personal  quality  it  gives  to  the  woman  herself,  and  through 
her  to  the  girls  in  her  care.  Besides  this  there  must  be  under- 
standing of  and  sympathy  with  girls,  executive  ability,  expert 
training  in  household  management,  and  business  knowledge. 

2.  Secretaries,  superintendents,  or  matrons  of  Young  Women's 
Christian  Associations  and  other  institutions  doing  similar  work. 
In  the  larger  cities  and  towns  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Asso- 
ciations frequently  establish  boarding-homes  for  girls  in  connection 
with  extensive  educational  work.  Usually  the  general  secretary 
or  the  superintendent  is  in  charge  of  all  the  work.  This  requires 
information  or  experience  in  business  and  household  manage- 
ment, and  possibly  some  knowledge  also  of  educational  matters. 
To  supplement  the  secretary  or  superintendent,  there  must  be 
the  expert  in  household  management,  who,  needless  to  say,  must 
be  a  business  woman. 

As  a  concrete  example,  the  management  of  two  large  Young 
Women's  Christian  Association  homes  is  explained  more  fully: — 

During  1908  the  homes  cared  for  5,291  women  and  girls,  387 
of  whom  were  permanent  residents;  and  85,242  meals  were  served 
to  transients.  The  active  workers  who  carry  on  the  homes  and 
their  duties  are  as  follows: — 

(a)  The  financial  secretary  is  the  business  manager:    she  has 
the  oversight  of  all  departments;    she  makes  collection  of  all 
receipts  and  pays  all  outside  bills;  she  contracts  for  food  supplies 
and  household  utensils;  she  superintends  repairs. 

(b)  The  superintendent  of  each  home  admits  residents,  perma- 
nent and  transient, — a  duty  requiring  insight  into  character  and 
discrimination;    she  assists  with  advice  and  information  those 
whom  she  cannot  admit  (in  one  case  six  different  social  organiza- 
tions were  consulted  before  a  woman  in  need  of  help  could  be 
provided  for) ;  she  has  oversight  of  girls  in  residence. 

The  superintendent  is  responsible  for  the  general  management 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  AND  ARTS  91 

of  the  house;  she  engages  the  heads  of  the  departments,  more 
or  less  of  the  help,  oversees  the  repairs,  consults  with  the  heads  of 
departments  as  to  necessary  expenses,  receives  all  money  paid 
for  board  and  accounts  for  it  to  the  financial  secretary,  keeps  the 
books,  attends  to  the  correspondence. 

(c)  The  assistant  superintendent  assists  in  the  detail  work  of 
the  office  and  house.     That  she  should  be  a  trained  nurse  is  most 
desirable,  especially  in  a  large  home. 

(d)  The  matron  of  each  home  has  immediate  charge  of  the 
kitchen  and   dining-room,   the  planning  and   serving  of  meals, 
putting  up  lunches,  buying  supplies.     The  matron  engages  most 
of  the  employees  in  the  department.     The  lunch-room  is  an  im- 
portant feature  of  the  work  of  each  house,  since  it  is  the  desire  of 
the  association  to  provide  suitable  lunches  for  working-women  at 
a  very  low  cost.     There  is  great  opportunity  in  this  work  for  judg- 
ment in  selection  of  food  and  planning  of  meals,   and  for  skill 
in  buying,  based  on  actual  comparison  of  the  different  brands  of 
supplies.     The  openings  are  advantageous  for  those  who  have 
the  desire,  personal  ability,  and  business  head  to  become  experts 
in  this  line  of  work. 

3.  Hospitals  and  public  institutions  make  a  large  demand  for 
dietitians,  and  for  the  expert  in  this  line  offer  many  inducements 
in  the  way  of  opportunities  for  investigation  and  experiment. 
Except  in  the  larger  institutions  the  duties  of  house  manager  and 
dietitian  are  combined.  There  are  numerous  institutions,  such  as 
reformatories  and  asylums,  in  which  the  well-educated  and  trained 
woman  should  make  herself  felt  as  an  influence  and  power  for  good, 
by  improved  household  management,  by  better  organization,  by 
better  sanitation,  by  feeding  for  efficiency,  by  stoppage  of  waste. 

II.  The  length  and  kind  of  training  necessary  will  vary  with 
the  individual.  The  woman  who  has  received  a  liberal  education 
should  have  much  intellectually  and  spiritually  to  bring  to  the 
very  technical  and  detailed  work  of  her  profession.  Courses  in 
biology,  chemistry,  and  physics,  in  economics,  in  psychology,  will 
have  given  her  a  basis  for  further  work.  Practical  training  is, 
however,  essential.  She  must  understand  all  the  details  of  actual 
management  of  the  house.  She  should  know  something  of  busi- 
ness methods,  sanitation,  house  construction  and  care,  dietetics, 


92  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

buying,  cooking,  house  management,  and  direction  of  servants, 
even  emergency  nursing. 

So  far  as  is  known,  few  institutions  give  thorough  technical 
and  practical  courses  in  institutional  management.  The  following 
have  established  such  definite  courses:  Simmons  College,  Bos- 
ton; Teachers  College,  New  York  City;  State  Normal  School, 
Framingham,  Mass.;  Pratt  Institute,  Brooklyn;  Drexel  In- 
stitute, Philadelphia;  Young  Women's  Christian  Association, 
Boston.  The  colleges  offer  four-year  courses  leading  to  a  degree; 
the  normal  school  offers  two  or  three  year  courses,  granting  a 
diploma;  the  institutes  give  a  diploma  for  two  years'  preparation; 
and  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Association  gives  a  diploma  for 
one  year's  work.  The  tendency  of  these  courses  is  to  give  actual 
training  in  practical  management,  which,  however,  is  still  more  or 
less  restricted.  Partial  courses  are  given  in  several  institutions. 

The  bare  essentials  of  practical  training  for  institutional  work 
require  at  least  a  year's  work  for  the  college  woman  who  has  had 
housekeeping  experience  at  home, — provided  she  has  taken  some 
science  and  economics.  Otherwise  a  longer  time  is  desirable. 
Much  the  same  may  be  said  for  other  educated  women. 

III.  The  salaries  for  positions  range  from  $500  to  $1,200  or 
$2,000  for  secretaries  and  superintendent;  $400  to  $1,000  for 
matrons  in  college  dormitories  and  schools;  $400  to  $1,500  for 
dietitians, — all  in  addition  to  the  home. 


HOTELS,  RESTAURANTS,  AND  CATERING  ESTAB- 
LISHMENTS 

GERTRUDE   L.   MARVIN 

WELLEBLEY  FELLOW,    RESEARCH    DEPARTMENT,   WOMEN'S  EDUCATIONAL   AND    INDUSTRIAL 

UNION 

In  the  six  large  Boston  hotels  investigated,  all  the  important 
executive  positions  were  held  by  men  with  the  single  exception 
of  housekeeper.  This  is  a  position  that  varies  in  importance 
and  prestige  with  the  size  and  policy  of  the  house.  In  the  smaller 
houses  they  want  a  working  housekeeper  who  will  be  an  execu- 


DOMESTIC   SCIENCE  AND  ARTS  93 

tive  over  the  chambermaids  and  linen-room  girls  and  scrub- 
women, and  who  will  set  the  pace  herself  by  a  stiff  day's  work 
every  day.  In  the  larger  hotels  such  an  army  of  unskilled 
laborers  is  required  that  it  takes  a  woman's  entire  time  to  plan 
and  direct  the  work,  while  the  direct  supervision  of  the  girls 
is  left  to  one  or  two  assistants.  In  the  last  few  years  social 
duties  have  been  added  to  the  housekeeper's  responsibilities  in 
the  ultra-fashionable  hotels.  She  must  be  ready  to  meet  guests, 
especially  women  who  are  travelling  alone;  she  often  serves  tea 
in  her  apartments  in  the  afternoons;  and  she  is  to  create,  if  pos- 
sible, a  certain  social  atmosphere  in  the  hotel.  The  extreme 
example  of  this  is  the  "official  chaperon"  of  the  Hotel  Chamber- 
lain at  Old  Point  Comfort,  to  whom  all  the  ladies  at  the  hotel 
dances  must  be  introduced.  Similar  positions  may  be  found  in 
one  or  two  other  popular  resorts.  The  housekeeper's  pay 
varies  from  $35  to  $100  a  month  with  board  and  an  apartment 
in  the  hotel.  There  is  a  good  opportunity  for  training  in  this 
sort  of  work  as  housekeeper's  assistant  in  one  of  the  larger 
houses.  This  involves  taking  direct  charge  of  some  part  of 
the  work,  as  the  cleaning  of  the  halls  and  bedrooms  or  the 
work  in  the  linen-room.  The  pay  runs  from  $20  to  $35  a 
month. 

All  6  of  the  hotel  managers  interviewed  agreed  that  they  would 
be  unwilling  to  put  a  woman  into  any  other  important  position 
about  a  hotel,  and  that  women  are  entirely  unfitted  for  hotel 
life  in  general.  Yet  there  are  at  least  4  women  running  hotels 
in  and  about  Boston.  Three  are  in  charge  of  summer  houses; 
the  fourth,  a  city  hotel.  The  summer  places  are  comparatively 
small,  accommodating  from  1  to  300.  All  are  exclusive,  with  a 
fairly  permanent  list  of  guests  who  return  year  after  year,  giving 
the  places,  in  spite  of  their  formality,  a  quiet,  homelike  atmos- 
phere. The  position  of  proprietor  in  such  a  house  is  a  pleasant 
one,  if  a  woman  has  the  presence  and  personality  to  make  her 
start,  attract  her  clientele,  and  dominate  the  house  from  season 
to  season, — in  addition,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  being  a  clever 
housekeeper  and  executive.  In  such  a  place  there  are  oppor- 
tunities for  girls  to  take  positions  as  assistant  in  charge  of  the 
various  departments,  gradually  becoming  familiar  with  the  rou- 


94  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

tine  and  individual  peculiarities  of  the  place  and  of  the  guests, 
and  taking  responsibility  from  the  hands  of  the  proprietor  as  she 
grows  older.  This  is  a  slow  and  waiting  job,  however,  for  the 
women  who  have  the  initiative  and  energy  to  start  successful 
places,  usually  relinquish  authority  slowly.  Only  one  actual 
woman  hotel  manager  was  found  in  the  city.  She  is  a  college 
woman,  and  says  that  she  has  found  her  college  training  an  in- 
valuable background  in  work  which  involves  meeting  people 
so  constantly.  Her  hotel  is  a  quiet,  well-ordered,  business-like 
establishment  in  the  centre  of  the  city,  and  suggests  a  winter 
replica  of  the  summer  places  already  described.  There  is,  of 
course,  a  wide  demand  for  quiet  city  hotel  homes,  but  they  seem, 
as  a  rule,  to  be  run  by  men. 

Perhaps  because  hotels  seem  such  an  ambitious  undertaking 
and  require  such  an  outlay  of  capital,  more  women  have  at- 
tempted restaurants.  In  one  of  the  down- town  business  men's 
restaurants,  where  only  two  years  ago  the  manager  told  an  inter- 
viewer that  he  could  not  possibly  employ  women  as  floor  super- 
intendents or  even  as  assistants  because  men  were  needed  to 
threaten  and  force  and  keep  the  waiters  in  shape,  to-day  there 
is  a  capable  young  woman  directing  a  corps  of  waitresses.  There 
were  in  1909  at  least  8  flourishing  restaurants  owned  and  man- 
aged by  women  in  Boston.  Three  of  these  were  under  one  man- 
agement. In  the  6  restaurants  investigated,  2  of  which  are 
run  by  men  down  in  the  business  section,  out  of  a  total  of  614  em- 
ployees, 517  are  women,  and  97  men.  The  responsible  positions 
are  held  by  31  women  and  8  men.  Of  these  31  women,  5  are 
college  women.  The  opening  position  for  a  college  girl  would 
generally  be  assistant  to  the  superintendent  of  some  depart- 
ment, though  in  one  restaurant  they  insisted  that  they  would 
take  an  inexperienced  girl  in  only  as  a  waitress,  no  matter  what 
her  previous  training.  An  assistant's  salary  averages  from  $600 
to  $900  a  year,  the  eight-hour  day  being  prevalent.  Her  duties 
would  be  those  of  general  assistant  to  her  superintendent,  who 
may  have  charge  of  the  cooking  and  baking,  the  service,  the 
cleaning,  the  buying,  or  the  like. 

Turning  to  catering,  we  find  that  in  the  estimation  of  some 
caterers,  at  least,  the  old-fashioned  caterer  as  such  is  passing 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  AND  ARTS  95 

away.  This  would  seem  to  be  primarily  a  matter  of  fashion. 
The  very  large  fashionable  affairs  where  the  caterer  was  invalu- 
able are  now  being  given  in  some  popular,  select  hotel  which 
furnishes  its  own  caterer.  The  smaller  affairs  still  given  at  home 
must  have  nowadays  an  individuality  and  novelty  which  .the 
man  caterer  does  not  understand.  This  leaves  a  new  oppor- 
tunity known  as  "private  catering"  for  the  woman  of  refinement 
and  good  taste.  She  needs  no  capital,  as  she  goes  into  her  em- 
ployer's home  and  uses  his  belongings.  Her  time  is  practically 
her  own,  as  each  little  contract  is  complete  in  itself.  Her  respon- 
sibility is  to  make  the  luncheon  or  party  or  dance  for  which  she 
is  engaged  an  harmoniously  planned,  smoothly  managed  affair, 
with  enough  uniqueness  to  give  it  individuality.  She  usually 
writes  the  menu,  plans  the  decorations,  trains  the  extra  servants 
in  case  any  are  needed,  and  is  responsible  for  every  detail  from 
beginning  to  end.  Here  there  is  opportunity  for  all  the  original- 
ity and  artistic  as  well  as  executive  ability  that  a  girl  may 
have. 

Closely  allied  to  this  is  another  position  of  "visiting  house- 
keeper, "  to  houses  not  quite  large  enough  to  retain  a  permanent 
high-paid  housekeeper.  A  woman  who  has  made  a  success  of 
such  work  says  that  she  can  comfortably  manage  the  position 
of  visiting  housekeeper  for  three  families  at  once.  She  gives 
each  family  a  couple  of  hours  a  day,  writing  out  the  menus,  going 
through  the  house,  seeing  that  no  details  of  the  work  are  being 
slighted.  She  has  the  advantage  of  being  able  to  double  up  on 
the  marketing  and  on  procuring  servants.  This  same  woman 
suggested  that  a  girl  might  take  the  position  as  visiting  house- 
keeper for  one  family  at  perhaps  $50  a  month,  and  devote  the 
rest  of  her  time  to  private  catering. 

The  best  opening  position  for  all  this  sort  of  work,  the  three 
women  interviewed  all  agreed,  would  be  as  assistant  to  the  house- 
keeper in  some  large  establishment  where  the  routine  of  such  a 
house  and  the  management  of  that  class  of  servants  might  be 
closely  observed.  There  would  be  little  or  no  opportunity  to 
assist  the  visiting  housekeeper  or  private  caterer,  as  their  work 
is  too  limited.  As  for  opening  positions  in  the  old-established 
catering  houses,  the  managers  of  the  three  representative  places 


96  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

investigated  all  said  that  the  work  was  organized  to  be  done 
under  men,  that  it  was  decreasing  and  not  growing,  and  that 
there  was  no  place  for  young  women  with  them. 

In  looking  back  over  the  field,  one  feels  alike  in  hotels,  in  res- 
taurants, and  in  catering,  dissatisfaction  with  the  old  stereo- 
typed wholesale  methods,  and  a  tendency  everywhere  to  system- 
atize, to  subdivide,  to  individualize,  and  above  all  to  work  out 
new  methods.  Here  is  the  opportunity  for  the  skilled  and  in- 
telligent worker. 


LUNCH-ROOM  MANAGEMENT 

BERTHA  STEVENSON 

In  lunch-rooms  of  the  type  of  the  Laboratory  Kitchen,  in  which 
I  am  engaged,  there  is  a  need  for  women  who  will  view  their  work 
in  a  professional  as  well  as  in  a  business  light.  A  special  demand 
for  college  women  ought,  therefore,  to  result. 

In  applying  the  word  "  professional"  to  this  trade  I  am  not  using 
it  in  any  strained  sense.  I  mean  that  a  course  in  college  which 
includes  appropriate  subjects  fits  a  woman  technically  to  deal 
with  foods  from  the  standpoint  of  both  nutrition  and  preparation. 
For  example,  a  knowledge  of  chemistry  is  almost  indispensable 
in  the  proper  care  of  foods  which  are  kept  from  one  day  to  an- 
other. I  have  sometimes  thought  also  that  laboratory  training 
is  essential  to  even  a  slight  appreciation  of  cleanliness,  and  though 
the  fact  is  rarely  recognized,  the  strictest  hospital  methods  should 
obtain  in  the  well-run  kitchen.  The  difference  in  these  details 
will  make  itself  felt  in  the  greater  value  of  the  food  and  in  the 
consequent  health  and  satisfaction  of  those  who  depend  regu- 
larly on  some  special  well-kept  lunch-room. 

In  this  business  better  salaries  are  to  be  had  than  are  usually 
paid  in  teaching,  and  exceptionally  high  salaries  are  paid  to  women 
who  can  carry  large  responsibilities  and  who  combine  the  training 
and  business  qualifications.  Here,  however,  many  college  women 
stumble,  and  drop  out  of  business  or  are  dropped  out,  to  be  suc- 
ceeded by  those  who  come  up  from  the  rank  and  file.  The  col- 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  AND  ARTS  97 

lege  woman  is  impatient  of  apprenticeship.  If  she  teaches  when 
she  leaves  college,  she  practically  continues  the  same  subjects 
at  which  she  has  been  working,  with  the  result  that  her  start  in 
the  profession  chosen  is  encouragingly  high;  but  too  often  she 
meets  with  little  advancement  during  her  whole  career.  With  a 
business  career  it  is  different:  the  woman  mast  do  as  a  man  does 
when  he  leaves  college  to  begin  business,  and  go  in  at  the  very 
bottom.  The  lunch-room  business  is  exceedingly  technical,  and 
the  girl  who  goes  into  it  is  doing  work  entirely  new  to  her;  she 
is  once  again  a  freshman,  and  must  be  content  to  learn  step  by 
step.  I  think  the  handling  of  details  well  comes  more  easily  to 
the  trained  mind  of  a  college  woman,  but  every  detail  must  be 
mastered  before  she  will  be  a  valuable  worker. 

I  have  dwelt  on  the  technical  demands  of  lunch-room  work, 
but  another  very  important  side  is  ability  to  deal  with  people, 
both  the  public  and  the  employees.  College  is  an  important 
factor  in  bringing  out  a  power  of  co-operation,  and  the  human 
side  of  its  training  is  of  no  little  importance. 


LAUNDRY  WORK 

GRACE  G.  WHITE 

SUNSHINE  LAUNDRY,  BUOOKLINE,  MASSACHUSETTS 

Work  that  meets  a  real  need  is  the  best  kind  to  do,  and 
is  sure  always  to  be  in  demand.  Its  usefulness  and  steadiness 
are  both  in  its  favor,  as  it  not  only  assures  a  support,  but 
satisfies  the  conscience.  Clean  clothes  are  held  by  modern 
civilized  people  to  be  necessary.  He  who  provides  them  has 
therefore  a  legitimate  trade,  and  the  demand  for  his  services 
is  constant. 

The  crowding  into  apartments  due  to  the  growing  scarcity  of 
domestic  help  leads  to  the  removal  of  as  much  work  as  possible 
from  the  home,  and  one  of  the  first  kinds  of  work  to  go  is  the 
family  washing,  at  least  in  part.  In  very  few  homes  has  either 
mistress  or  maid  the  expert  skill  needful  to  do  up  bosom  shirts 


98  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

and  collars  and  cuffs  well.  As  these  are  among  the  garments 
most  universally  worn,  even  conservative  housewives  yield  them 
to  the  professional  launderer;  and  shirts  and  collars  are  the  main 
support  of  the  public  laundry.  Machinery  also  puts  within 
the  reach  of  those  of  small  means  relief  from  the  hardest  part 
of  the  family  wash,  the  bulky  household  linen.  Other  forms  of 
relief  are  found  in  the  "rough-dry"  and  "wet- wash"  depart- 
ments in  many  large  laundries.  Beside  all  these  necessary  uses 
of  the  public  laundry  there  is  the  "fine  ironing"  on  ladies'  and 
children's  clothes,  and  on  table  linen,  embroidery,  and  drapery 
curtains,  which  many  who  can  afford  this  luxury  prefer  to  have 
done  outside  the  home. 

These  manifold  calls  on  the  public  laundry  are  enough  to  ac- 
count for  the  growing  dignity  and  importance  of  the  business,  and 
finely  equipped  laundries  are  springing  up  to  satisfy  the  higher 
standard  of  the  public  demand.  Enough  has  been  said  to  show 
the  ambitious  young  woman  that  there  is  ample  room  for  her 
to  carry  on  this  branch  of  woman's  work  outside  the  home.  This 
would  not  mean  the  conduct  of  a  large  and  varied  business  at 
the  outset,  for  a  small  beginning  with  normal  growth  is  the  nat- 
ural and  safe  course.  There  is  a  great  field  open  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  special  new  phases  of  the  work  already  mentioned, 
with  higher  standards  of  quality  than  are  yet  common. 

The  conduct  of  an  average  laundry  involves  many  things 
besides  washing  and  ironing.  First  there  is  the  care  of  building 
and  machinery,  including  power  plant,  with  insurance  of  the 
property.  Then  comes  the  collection  and  delivery  of  work,  with 
oversight  of  drivers,  horses,  and  wagons,  and  with  this  the  office 
system  of  routes,  accounts,  and  collection  of  bills.  There  are 
machines  and  other  appliances  to  be  bought,  together  with  sup- 
plies, such  as  soap,  starch,  cloth,  paper,  and  twine;  but  the  chief 
effort  of  all  must  be  given  to  the  selection,  training,  and  direc- 
tion of  workers.  This  factor,  always  important,  becomes  more 
so  as  less  work  is  done  by  machine.  Hand-ironing  not  only  needs 
trained  skill,  but  many  more  workers  to  do  a  given  amount  of 
work.  This  human  element  calls  for  all  the  qualities  most  use- 
ful in  dealing  with  people,  and  it  also  comes  into  play  in  relation 
to  the  patrons  of  the  business.  One  of  the  questions  most  often 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  AND  ARTS  99 

put  by  visitors  to  laundries  is:  "How  do  you  ever  succeed  in  return- 
ing all  the  thousand  pieces  to  their  rightful  owners?"  This 
question  alone  suggests  the  great  need  of  system  to  reach  the 
desired  results,  and  those  most  familiar  with  the  business  agree 
that  it  is  one  of  unusual  detail,  and  therefore  of  absorbing  in- 
terest and  variety. 

Business  experience  of  some  kind  is  desirable,  if  not  essential, 
in  preparation  for  this  as  for  any  such  venture.  The  training  in 
laundry  work  given  at  schools  of  household  science  usually 
prepares  either  for  the  home  laundry  or  for  institutional  work. 
Many  of  its  methods  cannot  be  applied  in  a  public  laundry,  where 
work  is  done  on  a  large  scale,  or  they  are  too  expensive  to  be 
profitable;  for  public  institutions  are  proverbially  extravagant  in 
laundry  equipment  and  management.  The  Teachers  College  of 
New  York  has  fitted  up  a  laundry  in  which  it  has  prepared  a  course 
by  which  it  hopes  to  give  more  practical  training  than  it  has  been 
possible  to  get  except  in  real  work.  Nothing,  however,  is  equal 
to  practical  experience,  and  next  to  that  comes  observation  of 
actual  business.  Let  the  would-be  laundry-woman  visit  as  many 
public  laundries  as  possible.  She  can  learn  something  from  all. 
Laundry  managers,  while  very  busy  people,  are  usually  ready  to 
give  kind  and  careful  attention  to  interested  visitors,  and  most 
laundries  open  their  doors  readily  to  the  public,  realizing  that 
freedom  of  inspection  is  their  best  advertisement.  But  watching 
is  not  doing,  and  after  visits  to  perhaps  one  hundred  laundries 
have  given  enough  general  and  special  knowledge  to  determine 
the  nature  and  equipment  of  the  new  business,  the  only  safe  way 
is  to  put  in  charge  one  who  has  had  much  practical  and  success- 
ful experience  in  laundry  management. 

The  business  woman  must  learn,  like  her  brother,  not  to  expect 
support  from  her  work  as  soon  as  she  enters  upon  it,  but  to  have 
patience  in  proportion  as  the  result  sought  is  more  than  an  aver- 
age salaried  position  would  give.  It  is  sometimes  said,  "Support 
your  business  for  a  year,  and  then  you  may  hope  it  will  support 
you."  This  is  a  conservative  estimate  of  the  time  one  must  take 
into  account  in  providing  capital  at  the  beginning.  Besides  the 
first  outlay  on  the  plant,  there  should  be  enough  for  running 
expenses  and  for  personal  support,  not  only  until  ends  meet,  but 


100  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

until  there  is  a  margin  of  profit.  The  amount  of  capital  will 
depend  on  the  size  and  nature  of  the  projected  laundry,  but  should 
run  well  into  the  thousands  unless  the  beginning  is  made  on  a 
very  small  scale.  To  capital  must  be  added  the  patience  of 
years  of  hard  work  and  long  hours,  hard  but  most  interesting 
work,  bringing  into  play  and  training  all  the  mental  powers  one 
can  muster.  But  she  who  has  the  courage  to  assume  responsi- 
bility may  hope  in  time  for  an  income  which  is  equalled  by  the 
salaries  of  only  a  few  teachers. 

That  women  are  now  successfully  conducting  laundries  in 
Washington,  Philadelphia,  Newport,  and  in  and  about  Boston, 
shows  that  the  way  is  open  for  others  to  enter  this  practical, 
interesting,  and  profitable  field  of  work. 


DOMESTIC  ARTS 


THE  FIELD  OF  DOMESTIC  ARTS 
COMPILED    FROM    NOTES    BY    MRS.    NELLY    HATTERSLEY 

Since  the  gathering  of  the  data  of  this  article  by  Mrs.  Nelly 
Hattersley,  director  of  the  School  of  Domestic  Arts,  Pratt  Insti- 
tute, her  serious  illness  and  death  have  occurred.  The  informa- 
tion she  assembled  was  left  in  the  form  of  notes,  which  have  been 
edited  for  the  utilization  of  the  readers  of  this  publication.  But 
the  material  suffers  both  in  form  and  substance  by  the  handling 
of  a  writer  who  did  not  do  the  investigating  nor  know  the  thoughts 
of  the  investigator  after  her  interviews  with  those  working  in 
the  field,  from  whom  the  following  facts  were  obtained. 

DRESSMAKING. 

The  art  and  trade  of  sewing  associates  itself  in  most  minds 
with  the  dressmaking  field.  All  grades  of  sewing  are  herein 
required,  from  basting  to  the  finest  stitchery,  so  that  work  is 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE   AND  ARTS  101 

furnished  for  all  classes  of  workers.  There  is,  too,  an  almost 
unlimited  call  for  art  ability  in  the  lines  of  draping  as  well  as 
decorating,  and  a  more  limited  demand  for  designers.  The  organi- 
zation of  workrooms  needs  those  who  have  managing  and  group 
directing  powers.  Thus  the  field  of  dressmaking  offers  oppor- 
tunity for  the  entrance  and  promotion  of  a  wide  range  of  talent. 

The  heads  of  the  dressmaking  departments  in  the  large  shops 
are  well-paid  women.  The  salary  of  one  who  was  interviewed 
was  $3,000  a  year.  The  head  of  the  dressmaking  department 
in  one  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  shops  is  a  woman  who  was  trained 
at  Pratt  Institute,  and  who  is  paid  $3,750  a  year.  She  has  under 
her  in  the  sales  department  a  Wellesley  College  woman,  whose 
salary  is  about  $1,500  a  year. 

In  the  large  city  department  stores  there  are  women  employed 
in  the  dressmaking  salesroom  of  the  special  order  department 
whose  work  it  is  to  meet  the  customers,  to  consult  with  them  as 
to  the  kind  of  garment  wanted,  materials  suitable  for  such,  the 
design  for  the  garment,  and  to  give  the  estimate  of  the  cost.  After 
the  order  has  been  taken  by  one  of  these  women,  she  sends  a  full 
description  of  the  gown  to  the  workroom,  and  supervises  the 
making.  She  is  present  at  the  fittings,  and  sees  that  the  gown 
is  finished  satisfactorily.  These  women  hold  their  customers 
from  season  to  season,  and  often  plan  out  the  whole  season's 
wardrobe  for  them.  They  are  paid  a  good  wage,  and  are  employed 
throughout  the  year.  Most  of  the  women  in  such  positions  have 
been  formerly  employed  in  minor  positions,  as  cash-girls  and  sales- 
women, and  have  worked  into  their  present  positions  step  by 
step.  They  must  be  women  of  some  general  education  and  have  a 
great  deal  of  tact  in  handling  people.  They  must  also  be  thor- 
oughly familiar  with  the  different  dress  materials  and  their  cost. 
In  some  of  the  smaller  houses  this  work  is  done  by  one  woman, 
who  is  also  the  buyer  for  the  department,  and  is  sent  abroad  once 
or  twice  a  year. 

The  making  of  children's  clothes  and  infants'  layettes  is  quite 
a  business  in  itself.  There  are  many  successful  shops  for  this 
work  alone.  One  college  graduate  makes  a  good  living  in  this 
work  by  private  trade.  She  had  no  special  training,  but  was 
•endowed  with  good  natural  taste  and  some  originality. 


102  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

MILLINERY. 

The  millinery  business  requires  of  its  workers  not  more  art 
than  dressmaking,  but  less  sewing,  both  in  ability  and  extent. 
Those  who  are  and  remain  preparers  for  the  trimmers  or  makers 
of  the  ready-to-wear  hats  have  the  greatest  amount  of  sewing 
to  do.  But  the  sewing  is  not  of  the  same  detailed  kind  as  is 
required  of  the  helpers  in  a  dressmaker's  workroom.  To  insure 
advancement  in  the  millinery  shop  to  the  position  of  trimmer, 
there  must  be  artistic  ability  and  special  knack  for  this  line  of 
feminine  art.  Unless  one  possesses  this  ability  and  special  knack, 
there  would  seem  to  be  little  profit  in  going  into  the  millinery 
trade.  The  seasons  for  the  millinery  business  are  much  shorter 
than  for  dressmaking,  the  wholesale  seasons  beginning  in  Janu- 
ary and  in  July,  and  the  retail  seasons  beginning  in  February  and 
March  and  in  September.  Seasons  are  from  six  to  ten  weeks, 
which  is  longer  than  formerly  on  account  of  the  Southern  tourists' 
trade.  Though  the  wholesale  trade  seasons  alternate  with  the 
retail  seasons,  they  use  such  a  different  and  somewhat  inferior 
class  of  workmanship  that  the  same  worker  cannot,  as  a  rule, 
transfer  herself  as  the  market  may  demand,  and  so  keep  busy 
throughout  the  year.  The  large  millinery  establishments  and 
departments  of  the  dry-goods  shops  retain  their  best  workers 
throughout  the  year,  but  the  apprentices  and  those  in  the  less 
important  positions  are  usually  engaged  only  for  the  season. 
Head-trimmers  are  paid  anywhere  from  $30  to  $40  a  week.  Those 
in  charge  of  the  different  workrooms  are  usually  paid  about  $18 
a  week. 

Wanamaker's  general  manager  would  be  glad  to  have  college 
women  as  heads  of  departments  in  his  store,  providing  they  were 
content  to  begin  in  subordinate  positions  and  willing  to  develop 
business  capacity  and  genius  for  taking  pains.  In  the  millinery 
department  the  head-buyer  is  a  man,  who  goes  to  Europe  twice 
a  year  to  manage  the  business  end  of  the  buying.  Two  head- 
women  go  with  him  to  choose  the  style  of  hats,  and  are  paid  as 
high  as  $6,500.  College  women  should  reach  such  a  position 
after  three  or  four  years'  work,  all  other  things  being  favorable. 

At  one  of  the  large  and  fashionable  establishments  on  Fifth 
Avenue,  New  York  City,  the  head  of  the  millinery  department  is 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  AND  ARTS  103 

i 

a  man,  who  was  trained  at  Pratt  Institute,  and  has  worked  his 
way  up  to  his  present  position,  where  he  receives  a  large  salary. 
It  seems  absurd  that  men  should  hold  positions  of  this  kind  when 
it  is  eminently  women's  work.  There  are  a  large  number  of 
very  successful  men  milliners.  Another  young  man  who  took 
the  technical  course  at  Pratt  opened  a  millinery  establishment 
in  Washington,  D.C.,  in  partnership  with  a  young  woman  class- 
mate. They  soon  occupied  a  whole  floor  in  a  large  house  in  the 
fashionable  centre  of  Washington,  and  cater  to  a  very  high  class 
of  customers. 

Young  women  with  a  technical  knowledge  of  millinery,  and 
sufficient  education  and  ability  to  start  a  business  of  their  own 
and  finance  it,  often  prefer  to  go  out  of  the  city  and  start  milli- 
nery establishments  in  small  towns,  where  their  rent  and  other 
expenses  are  much  less  than  in  large  cities.  They  must  be  able 
to  do  on  a  small  scale  the  work  which  is  divided  among  many 
women  in  the  large  shops.  Many  of  the  most  successful  private 
establishments  in  New  York  have  been  started  on  a  very  small 
scale  by  capable  young  women  who  have  been  clever  enough  to 
work  up  a  good  trade  in  their  own  parlors  and  add  to  their  staff 
of  workers  as  the  growth  of  their  business  warranted.  Two 
young  women  in  New  York,  who  had  been  trained  to  teach  domes- 
tic arts,  decided  to  go  into  the  business  field  a  few  years  ago. 
One  is  a  dressmaker,  and  the  other  is  a  milliner,  who  makes  hats 
to  go  with  the  gowns.  They  are  now  running  a  very  successful 
co-operative  shop,  and  employing  several  women  under  them. 

The  length  of  the  training  for  a  milliner  is  from  three  to  six 
months,  and  costs  from  $25  to  $50,  but  experience  would  be 
required  after  this  to  give  facility  and  style. 

INTERIOR  DECORATION. 

Interior  decoration  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  delight- 
ful vocations  for  educated  women,  and  one  which  seems  to  prom- 
ise success.  There  are  in  New  York  several  women  who  have 
attained  a  large  measure  of  success  in  this  profession.  Some  of 
these  have  had  little  or  no  training,  but  have  taken  it  up  as  a 
means  of  earning  their  living. 

One  woman  spent  eight  years  in  preparing  herself  for  the  pro- 


104  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

fession  after  having  had  a  college  education.  She  has  built  up  a 
very  fine  business,  works  independently,  chooses  her  own  architect, 
and  takes  the  whole  contract.  After  her  college  education  she 
entered  the  second  year  of  the  two-year  design  course  of  Pratt 
Institute,  after  which  she  went  to  Teachers  College,  and  then 
worked  for  three  years  in  an  architect's  office.  She  then  spent 
a  year  abroad,  studying  different  styles  of  furniture.  She  con- 
siders hard  work  the  only  road  to  success.  She  now  employs 
20  men  and  16  women  workers,  and  pays  her  best  women 
workers  from  $25  to  $30  a  week.  She  believes  that  a  successful 
house  decorator  should  have  a  commercial  knowledge,  a  knowl- 
edge of  carpentry,  painting,  and  architecture,  with  special  gift 
for  color.  She  considers  that  a  good  way  to  enter  the  profession 
is  to  spend  some  time  as  secretary  to  a  successful  woman,  the 
probable  remuneration  for  which  would  be  about  $60  a  month. 

Another  woman  had  an  office  in  New  York  for  some  years. 
She  had  no  special  training  and  was  not  a  college  woman,  but 
the  daughter  of  an  English  potter.  She  had  artistic  instinct  and 
a  splendid  home  environment,  and  was  well  educated.  She  had 
helped  her  friends  furnish  houses,  and,  when  financial  reverses 
came,  took  up  interior  decoration  as  a  profession.  She  also  works 
entirely  independently.  She  does  not  believe  in  much  special 
training,  but  thinks  one  must  work  from  the  inside  out;  heredity 
and  early  environment  are  important  factors  in  the  development 
of  taste. 

A  third  woman  found  herself  obliged  to  earn  her  own  living. 
She  had  artistic  home  environment  and  had  travelled  abroad. 
She  began  her  career  in  a  small  country  town  by  submitting 
schemes  of  decoration  to  builders  and  getting  the  contract  for 
painting  and  decorating.  At  first  she  sublet  the  contract,  putting 
on  a  profit  of  50  per  cent.,  and  gave  satisfaction.  The  first  year 
she  made  a  profit  of  $2,800,  and  eventually  developed  a  large 
business  of  her  own,  which  yielded  her  $9,000  a  year.  She  found 
it  necessary  to  keep  in  touch  with  architects  and  builders,  and 
thinks  it  essential  to  have  a  technical  knowledge  of  plumbing, 
plastering,  painting,  paper  hanging,  and  electric  wiring.  This 
woman  is  now  employed  in  one  of  the  large  department  stores  at 
a  large  salary.  She  recommends  that  a  year  or  two  be  spent 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  AND  ARTS  105 

in  study  of  different  periods  of  decorative  art,  and  believes  that 
the  best  way  to  succeed  is  to  start  on  your  own  account  rather 
than  go  in  as  assistant  to  others.  An  infinite  amount  of  tact  is 
necessary  to  manage  the  business  end  of  such  work. 

A  woman  architect  interviewed  was  not  a  college  woman,  but 
was  a  pupil  of  Chase,  and  worked  for  some  years  in  an  architect's 
office.  She  understands  pottery  and  the  chemistry  of  color.  She 
is  able  to  take  the  contract  for  building  houses  and  for  the  whole 
of  the  interior  decoration.  She  has  evidently  made  a  success  of 
her  life,  but  gave  no  figures  as  to  remuneration  or  cost  of  train- 
ing. 

After  thirteen  years  as  an  actress,  a  woman  has  been  doing 
interior  decoration  for  four  years.  She  had  no  special  training, 
but  had  lived  in  Paris,  and  now  has  an  office  on  West  40th  Street, 
and  employs  14  people.  She  has  done  houses  in  Colorado, 
California,  etc.  She  evidently  has  a  fine  business. 

Such  a  store  as  Wanamaker's  employs  4  or  5  women  who 
manage  the  interior  decoration  part  of  that  business,  who  are 
paid  as  high  as  $5,000  a  year.  Such  women,  however,  have  not 
the  same  opportunity  for  expressing  themselves  as  have  those 
who  are  working  independently,  because  they  are  compelled  to 
use  only  such  things  as  are  sold  at  the  store,  but  the  position  is 
a  good  one,  and  would  only  be  given  to  a  woman  of  experience.* 

DRESS  DESIGN. 

The  field  of  costume  or  dress  design  is  a  very  attractive  and 
remunerative  one  in  a  few  large  centres  for  the  distribution  of 
styles,  particularly  New  York,  Chicago,  and  San  Francisco.  Work 
in  this  line  requires  at  least  a  year's  training  in  costume  drawing, 
supplemented  by  pattern  drafting,  to  insure  an  understanding 
of  the  reasonable  and  possible  in  dress  design.  A  natural  taste 
for  designing  must  be  the  basis  for  undertaking  this  study.  Even 
then  a  course  of  two  or  three  years  to  allow  for  sufficient  training 
in  drawing  should  be  taken  if  really  good  and  progressive  art 
work  in  costume  designing  is  desired.  Most  of  this  work  is  the 

*  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  most  of  the  instances  here  cited  natural 
ability  and  unusually  favorable  environment  are  presupposed.  It  should  be 
remembered  also  that  the  figures  quoted  are  New  York  figures,  and  cannot  every- 
where be  counted  upon,  granted  a  high  degree  of  power. —  ED. 


106  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

adaptation  of  foreign  styles  to  American  taste  and  conditions, 
but  excellence  of  technique,  attention  to  detail,  knowledge  of 
the  kind  of  work  for  good  reproduction,  and  a  commercial  rapid- 
ity in  the  workmanship  are  all  required  of  the  beginner,  and 
increasingly  so  of  the  expert,  who  may  receive  $100  to  $150 
per  week  as  salary.  Remuneration  is  high  because  the  suc- 
cess of  a  business  in  the  clothing  line  depends  on  the  designer's 
ability. 

One  young  woman,  after  having  taken  a  one  year's  course  in 
dress  design  and  pattern  drafting,  started  in  a  house  in  New  York, 
where  she  was  paid  $25  from  the  start  as  a  designer.  Three  hun- 
dred workers  were  employed  in  this  establishment  carrying  out 
the  work  which  had  been  planned  by  the  designers.  This  same 
young  woman  is  now  receiving  $35  a  week  in  a  similar  position. 
Another  young  woman  with  the  same  training  has  been  holding 
a  position  of  responsibility  in  Canada  in  a  large  pattern  house, 
where  she  directs  the  designing  and  cutting  of  patterns  and  cal- 
culates the  amount  of  materials  necessary  to  carry  them  out. 
There  are  other  positions  where  women  are  employed  in  sketching 
and  modelling  in  paper  and  crinoline,  also  in  making  up  designs 
for  braiding  and  embroidery  for  the  crinoline  models. 

One  woman  has  a  very  successful  business  of  her  own,  manu- 
facturing waists  and  gowns.  She  worked  for  other  manufact- 
urers before  going  into  business  for  herself.  Her  forewomen 
get  about  $15  a  week,  and  advance  to  from  $18  to  $25.  An  ex- 
ceptional woman  she  knows  of  gets  $40  after  having  had  three 
years'  experience  in  a  workroom. 

A  general  education  seems  to  be  no  advantage  except  in  the 
ability  it  begets  to  deal  with  girls  and  plan  ahead,  and  look  to 
the  main  needs,  ignoring  the  petty  troubles. 

EDUCATIONAL  FIELD. 

As  an  offset  or  climax  to  the  foregoing  statement  of  opportuni- 
ties in  the  special  sections  of  the  domestic  arts  field,  a  brief  sum- 
mary may  be  permitted  of  the  teacher's  opportunities  and  the 
nature  of  her  training  for  this  work.  Success  as  a  teacher  always 
depends  on  native  ability  to  teach  or  a  very  strong  desire  to  be- 
come capable  of  teaching.  The  training  for  domestic  art  work 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  AND  ARTS  107 

should  be  from  the  cradle  up.  That  is,  the  environment  should 
be  full  of  art  feeling,  right  living,  and  high  ideals.  Special 
training  following  high-school  graduation  should  be  not  less  than 
two  years,  but  three  or  four  are  much  to  be  desired  if  the  work 
of  the  teacher  is  to  advance  indefinitely  and  embrace  such  tech- 
nique and  thoughts  as  will  enrich  the  home  lives  and  work  of 
her  students. 

The  cost  of  such  special  training  will  be  probably  about  $500 
a  year,  including  board  and  lodging.  Remuneration  for  teachers 
of  domestic  arts  in  public  elementary  schools  in  New  York  is 
$900  a  year,  advancing  to  $1,200  in  three  years.  Manual  training 
high  school  domestic  arts  teachers  begin  at  $1,100  and  increase 
to  $1,900.  Night  high  school  domestic  arts  teachers  are  paid 
$5  a  night  for  four  nights  a  week,  and  teachers  of  the  elementary 
night  schools  are  paid  $3  a  night,  also  four  nights  a  week.  Other 
positions  are  open  in  Young  Women's  Christian  Associations, 
where  small  salaries  are  paid  as  a  rule.  In  technical  institutes, 
salaries  usually  range  from  $850  to  $1,000,  according  to  the  stand- 
ing, and  rise  to  $1,300  or  $1,500.  Directorships  in  technical 
institutes  range  from  $1,500  to  probably  as  high  as  $4,000.  In 
State  universities  head  positions  pay  from  $1,200  to  $1,500. 
Women  of  college  training  are  eligible  for  high-school  positions, 
and  after  a  few  years'  experience  in  teaching  for  directorships, 
if  possessed  of  executive  ability.  Supervisors  of  domestic  arts 
in  public  schools  get  from  $1,200  to  $3,500. 


DRESSMAKING 

AGNES  HINDS 

SOLOV-HINDS  COMPANY,  BOYLSTON  STREET,  BOSTON 

The  occupation  of  dressmaking  has  been  regarded  primarily  as 
a  means  of  livelihood,  and  a  young  girl,  having  completed  the 
rudiments  of  a  common  school  education,  started  to  learn  the  trade, 
as  the  phrase  was.  To-day ,  among  the  higher  classes  of  dress- 
makers, a  feeling  prevails  that  the  former  apprentice  is  a  nuisance, 


108  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

employers  preferring  to  pay  the  higher  wage  to  skilled  work- 
women. This  condition  has  led  to  the  trade  school,  where  girls 
are  taught  the  elements  of  dressmaking,  which  gives  them  at 
least  a  little  conception  of  the  nature  of  the  work  before  they 
undertake  the  real  business  of  dressmaking. 

A  girl  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  perhaps,  comes  into  a  workroom 
and  starts  at  75  cents  or  $1  per  day,  according  to  how  much  she 
knows.  If  bright  and  attentive,  she  becomes  a  good  helper  to  a 
head-girl  or  a  finisher  of  waists  or  skirts  at  about  $10  per  week. 
According  to  her  own  ability  she  is  advanced,  although  sometimes 
there  is  not  the  chance  to  push  forward,  head-girls  often  staying 
on  with  employers  for  years. 

A  head  waist  or  skirt  girl  earns  from  $15  to  $20  per  week. 
The  next  step  is  to  become  a  fitter,  which  position  earns  as  high 
as  $35  per  week.  There  is,  of  course,  something  to  be  said  about 
the  division  of  the  work  into  seasons,  which  means  a  dull  period 
between,  and  is  a  definite  drawback  to  this  particular  class  of 
work.  In  my  own  rooms,  however,  I  have  always  retained  the 
girls  who  have  been  interested  for  me,  and  who  have  paid  atten- 
tion to  their  business,  not  working  merely  for  "six  o'clock  and 
Saturday  night," — which  practically  amounts  to  a  kind  of  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest.  These  steps  to  the  higher  wages  vary  with 
different  girls,  but  the  experience  of  learning  generally  comes 
between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  twenty-three.  Of  course  there 
are  many  who  never  advance  beyond  a  certain  point. 

Many  girls  do  not  go  through  all  these  steps, — although  those 
who  do  so  are  best  fitted  for  the  mechanical  end  of  dress- 
making,— but  start  in  business  for  themselves  in  a  small  way, 
making  dresses  at  a  low  figure  to  attract  certain  people.  As  this 
particular  business  seems  to  depend  largely  on  one  satisfied  patron 
sending  another,  if  the  young  dressmaker  has  any  native  genius, 
and  is  conscientious  about  the  sort  of  work  she  sends  out,  she  is 
in  line  to  get  higher  prices  and  to  go  into  larger  quarters.  If  she 
is  ambitious  to  become  a  real  business  woman,  she  can  enlarge 
her  operations  by  buying  materials  to  use  in  her  work,  which 
requires  not  only  good  taste  and  judgment  about  certain  things 
which  may  be  the  fashion  temporarily,  but  also  an  idea  of  sales- 
womanship,  which  is  quite  another  aspect  of  the  subject. 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  AND  ARTS  109 

If  the  dressmaker  is  wise  in  her  buying,  and  thus  successful 
in  her  selling,  the  next  step  is  to  become  a  buyer  of  imported 
models  as  well  as  goods.  She  goes  to  Paris,  enters  the  market 
with  the  world's  buyers,  and  receives  her  first  education  in  Paris 
model  dresses,  which  are  always  the  leading  and  advanced  styles. 
Perhaps  she  buys  two  or  three  the  first  season,  and  with  that  buy- 
ing picks  up  ideas  enough  for  the  making  of  other  dresses.  She 
comes  home,  pays  the  duty,  and  with  the  expense  of  travelling 
finds  that  she  has  spent  all  that  she  had  saved.  She  goes  to  work, 
however,  determined  to  succeed.  She  has  raised  her  prices  be- 
cause she  has  models  to  show.  She  sells  them  and  copies  them, 
and  altogether  she  has  benefited  her  business,  even  though  the 
profits  do  not  at  first  appear. 

Twice  a  year  fashion  requires  new  models,  and  the  dressmaker, 
if  she  is  in  the  field  with  up-to-date  competitors,  must  buy  or  in 
some  way  obtain  models  for  her  business.  Here  our  American 
dressmakers  have  great  need  of  growth  or,  perhaps  I  should  say, 
of  greater  confidence  in  their  own  abilities  to  design.  Paris 
models  are  not  only  exorbitant  in  price,  but  villanously  made, 
and  many  of  the  houses  are  not  reliable  in  giving  what  is  paid  for. 
There  is  no  doubt,  in  my  mind,  that  the  Parisians  lead  in  design- 
ing and  the  combining  of  colors,  hand  embroideries,  etc.,  but  there 
are  many  of  our  own  people  who,  with  a  little  encouragement, 
could  design  and  bring  about  practically  as  good  results  with 
sufficient  effort.  Here  is  one  great  field  for  any  person  who  has 
an  eye  for  the  beautiful  in  line,  style,  and  coloring. 

Thus  far  we  have  seen  that  a  bright  girl  with  a  common  school 
education  can  become  a  business  woman,  an  importer,  a  high-class 
dressmaker,  with  a  chance  of  clearing  from  $3,000  to  $10,000  per 
year  when  she  is  well  started.  There  are,  of  course,  plenty  of 
instances  of  dressmakers  overbuying  or  buying  unwisely  and 
running  into  debt  and  failure,  but  it  is,  as  in  other  businesses, 
largely  good  judgment  and  a  level  head,  and  the  sticking  to  one's 
own  sense  of  what  one  can  use,  that  carry  one  through  success- 
fully. 

Now  just  how  to  apply  all  this  to  the  college  woman,  I  should 
say,  must  depend  largely  on  her  own  attitude  toward  the  problem 
of  dressmaking  and  the  business  world  generally.  Dressmaking 


110  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

has  been  pretty  generally  isolated  from  educational  subjects,  and  it 
is  a  fact  that  the  majority  of  dressmakers  are  not  even  ordinarily 
well  educated.  It  seems  to  me  that  only  in  so  far  as  the  mind 
trained  to  be  logical  and  to  apply  what  is  deduced  from  observa- 
tion to  the  problem  in  hand,  namely,  dressmaking,  can  get  quicker 
results  because  of  the  greater  intelligence  brought  to  bear,  only 
in  so  far  can  the  college  graduate  find  anything  in  dressmaking 
which  her  less  favored  sister  has  not  already  found. 

While  the  college  girl  is  doing  her  best  intellectual  work  at  col- 
lege, the  dressmaker's  helper  is  receiving  her  final  training  in 
practical  work.  The  average  college  graduate,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one  or  two,  is  not  likely  to  wish  to  begin  at  fundamentals 
of  dressmaking.  She  would  much  more  easily  fit  into  the  business 
end  of  it, — meeting  customers,  showing  goods,  taking  orders,  mak- 
ing use  of  her  idea  of  line  and  style  best  adapted  to  a  particular 
customer.  The  advantages  of  meeting  people  socially  and  her 
education  will  have  given  her  an  easy  manner  and  good  address, 
together  with  the  assurance  that  she  knows  at  least  as  much  as 
her  customer,  all  of  which  goes  a  long  way  in  making  sales  and 
retaining  customers.  The  salary  of  such  a  salesgirl  would  range 
from  $10  to  $25,  depending  largely  upon  how  necessary  she  makes 
herself  to  employer  and  customer. 

A  good  salesgirl  stands  a  chance  of  becoming  a  buyer,  if  she 
has  good  taste,  good  style  herself,  and  the  confidence  of  her 
employer.  A  buyer  receives  from  $35  to  $50  per  week.  I  have 
known  buyers  who  had  charge  of  dressmaking  departments  in 
stores  who  received  $8,000  per  year,  but  that  salary  carried  with 
it  the  responsibility  of  making  the  department  pay,  which  in- 
volves a  knowledge  of  business  principles  as  well  as  all  the  detail 
of  buying.  Whether  the  college  girl  has  any  more  aptitude  than 
others  in  this  line  is  a  matter  yet  to  be  proved.  I  do  not  person- 
ally know  a  single  college  graduate  among  all  the  buyers  I  have 
ever  met. 

Dressmaking,  in  its  best  sense,  considered  apart  from  a  means 
of  livelihood,  is  an  art  which  calls  for  the  highest  sense  of  beauty 
of  line,  harmony  of  color,  and  individuality  of  style,  and  for  a 
combination  of  artistic  qualities  which  the  college  girl,  with  her 
opportunity  to  obtain  a  rounded  sense  of  the  beautiful  by  the 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  AND  ARTS  111 

study  of  art  in  one  form  and  another,  should  be  able  to  apply 
with  good  results.  But  application  to  the  details  of  the  business 
is  as  necessary  to  the  college  girl  as  to  the  trade-school  girl, 
and  unless  she  is  willing  to  "buckle  down"  to  hard  work 
and  apply  all  her  ability  and  intelligence  to  it,  her  chancej^no 
better  than  that  of  her  less  educated  sister.  Indeed,  it  is  not 
so  good. 

College  education  ought  to  prove  a  good  supplement  to  what 
has  already  been  accomplished  along  these  lines,  and  with  their 
larger  knowledge  of  what  makes  for  real  progress,  college  girls 
ought  to  be  better  prepared  both  to  govern  and  be  governed  in 
the  business  world.  Whether  they  are  so  prepared  remains  to 
be  proved. 


ORGANIZATION    AND    MANAGEMENT   OF   DRESS- 
MAKING ESTABLISHMENTS 

JANE  FALES 

DIRECTOR,  DEPARTMENT  OF  TEXTILES  AND  NEEDLEWORK,  TEACHERS  COLLEGE,  NEW  YORE 

To  a  woman  entering  any  profession  a  college  education  is  not 
usually  found  to  be  a  handicap.  Although  outside  of  teaching,  it 
has  not  been  considered  necessary, — has  been,  indeed,  depreciated 
by  those  in  trade, — it  has  been  proved  a  decided  advantage  in 
establishing  many  women  in  successful  careers.  Why,  then, 
should  we  permit  the  line  to  be  so  closely  drawn  about  dress- 
making? Why  should  we  assent  meekly,  without  argument, 
when  the  assertion  is  made  that  a  good  dressmaker  can  come 
only  from  the  ranks,  that  she  must  be  trained  in  the  shop  to 
finally  accomplish  the  position  of  head  of  the  establishment? 
Has  the  woman  from  the  ranks  ever  encountered  sufficient  com- 
petition from  the  educated  woman  to  prove  the  comparative 
value  of  their  individual  training?  I  think  not.  It  is  surely 
a  logical  hypothesis  that,  if  trained  intelligence  and  education  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  dressmaking  problem,  better  results 
can  be  effected  than  by  spending  years  of  labor  only  over  the  detail 
of  the  technique. 


112  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

In  the  dressmaking  shop,  division  of  labor  is  so  carefully  deter- 
mined, everything  is  so  specialized,  that  very  few  workers  know 
more  than  one  part  of  a  garment,  and  that,  generally,  without 
reference  to  the  completed  whole.  If  the  head  of  an  establish- 
ment has  been  a  trade  worker,  she  may  have  had  actual  experi- 
ence in  but  one  line,  that  of  sleeves,  skirts,  or  waists.  She  is 
not  only  without  business  training,  without  even  the  "business 
instinct/'  but  also  without  training  in  design  in  costume,  which 
to-day  is  considered  so  important  a  part  of  dressmaking  educa- 
tion. Her  largest  assets  are  the  years  she  has  spent  in  the  trade 
and  the  "taste"  she  has  for  it.  Does  this  not,  in  part,  explain 
why  dressmaking,  as  a  business,  stands  to-day  practically  at  the 
head  of  the  list  of  unorganized  industries?  Is  this  not  one  reason 
why  women,  as  business  managers  and  organizers,  are  considered 
unsuccessful?  How  many  dressmakers  managing  their  own  es- 
tablishments could  tell  you  how  much  they  made  last  year  and 
how  they  made  it, — in  labor  or  in  sale  of  materials? 

Many  of  our  colleges  give  a  dressmaking  course — planned  at 
present  for  teachers — in  which  may  be  acquired  certain  fundamen- 
tal rules  of  technique.  It  remains  to  round  out  the  professional 
education  by  supplementing  training  along  artistic  and  business 
lines.  For  instance,  by  an  art  course  with  special  and  direct 
application  to  design  in  costume,  so  that  the  student  can  know 
thoroughly  what  the  finished  product  should  be,  and  whether  it 
can  be  considered  a  success  from  both  its  artistic  and  technical 
sides.  Second,  by  courses  in  the  theory  of  organization  and 
management  of  a  shop, — a  definite  outline  of  the  many  sides  of 
the  trade;  the  management  of  the  stock-room  especially,  the 
chief  source  of  profit  or  loss;  the  amount  of  time  that  should  be 
consumed  in  the  production  of  certain  things,  for  there  are  a  few 
fundamental  stages  through  which  practically  every  costume 
must  go;  the  cost  of  that  time;  the  cost  of  material  used;  the 
proper  profit  on  each  and  the  worth  of  the  finished  article  in  re- 
lation to  the  necessary  charge.  The  much-discussed  question 
"Can  good  and  yet  inexpensive  dressmaking  be  done?"  might 
even  be  settled.  Third,  by  actual  book-keeping  courses.  If  a 
successful  business  is  to  be  conducted,  and  a  daily  knowledge  of 
the  actual  standing  is  to  be  comprehended,  familiarity  with  the 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE   AND  ARTS  113 

business  aspect  is  most  important.  Add  to  these  suggested 
courses  a  few  months'  actual  experience  in  a  well-run  establish- 
ment, where  both  the  business  methods  and  technical  work  can 
be  observed,  and  it  stands  to  reason  that  the  woman  thus  equipped 
starts  superior  to  the  trade  worker.  She  would  have  still  more 
efficient  grasp  of  the  situation  by  working  in  a  model  dressmaking 
shop  in  connection  with  the  college  itself:  there  she  would  see 
all  theories  put  into  practical  operation.  This  is  a  thing  of  the 
near  future.  Model  schools  for  the  training  of  teachers  are  often 
provided  by  colleges,  so  that  students  may  parallel  all  theory 
courses  by  work  under  usual  conditions.  A  model  dressmaking 
establishment  is  equally  possible.  But  the  college  woman  need 
not  wait  for  it  before  demonstrating  her  ability  to  successfully 
organize  and  operate  in  the  dressmaking  profession.  Let  her 
turn  to  that  rather  than  to  teaching,  for  which  she  is  so  often 
obviously  unfitted. 

The  old  adage  that  teachers  are  born,  not  made,  may  apply 
also  to  the  dressmakers.  At  least  it  is  less  serious  if  the  women 
of  to-day  be  not  so  stylishly  clothed  than  that  their  children,  the 
law  makers  of  to-morrow,  be  unwisely  taught  and  unwisely 
influenced. 


MILLINERY 

C.  LOTHROP  HIGGINS 

MILLINER,  BOSTON 

Millinery  as  an  occupation  offers  to  the  young  woman  who  has 
had  a  college  training  a  field  of  activity  where  constant  demands 
are  being  made  for  that  ability  which  has  already  proved  to  be  of 
great  use  to  the  business  woman  as  well  as  to  the  professional. 

There  is  plenty  of  room  for  good  brain  work  in  the  millinery 
business.  The  demand  to-day  is  for  those  who  can  not  only 
perform  the  work  planned  and  assigned  to  them,  but  plan  work 
for  others  and  direct  them  in  it.  To  be  a  millinery  designer 
or  a  so-called  first-class  trimmer  requires  much  more  than  the 
ability  to  put  right  colors  together,  or  to  evolve  a  stylish  hat. 
One  must,  in  addition,  have  had  the  training  in  which  quick 


114  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

thought  and  action  are  called  upon  at  all  times,  for  under  her 
direction  the  makers,  copyists,  and  apprentices  are  guided  in 
every  part  of  their  work.  On  the  accuracy  of  her  orders,  as 
given  to  them,  depend  largely  the  successes  or  failures  in  their 
work,  and  to  bring  out  the  best  results  from  each  individual  is 
almost  entirely  a  question  of  her  temperament.  The  responsibili- 
ties of  the  trimmer,  therefore,  do  not  end  with  her  own  work. 
She  requires  great  capacity  and  ability  along  many  lines.  In  her 
work,  originality  counts  for  much;  also  artistic  conceptions,  a 
trained  eye  for  form  and  color  as  well  as  accuracy  in  lines  and 
angles.  But  in  addition  there  must  be  ability  to  impart  to  others 
and  to  direct  and  guide  them.  All  these  are  the  elements  which 
combine  to  make  a  first-class  trimmer. 

Trimmers  and  designers  are,  as  a  rule,  people  of  temperament 
and  natural  artistic  ability.  Add  to  these  qualifications  a  well- 
developed  mind,  and  the  result  is  a  work-woman  to  whom  any 
establishment  is  willing  to  pay  just  tribute  in  a  financial  way. 
The  demand  for  such  women  is  always  in  excess  of  the  supply. 
A  good  trimmer,  even  in  the  smaller  cities,  commands  a  salary 
of  $20  or  even  more  a  week.  In  our  largef  cities  $25  and  up- 
wards, and  to  some  even  $35  and  more,  is  paid.  Those  who 
devote  themselves  exclusively  to  designing  of  course  demand 
still  larger  salaries,  and  are  hard  to  find  at  any  price. 

The  chief  requirement  for  a  copyist  is  that  she  be  accurate, 
especially  in  detail.  One  who  meets  all  the  requirements  within 
the  range  of  her  work  is  very  much  in  demand  in  all  first-class 
establishments.  The  rule  for  good  work  as  a  maker  is  practically 
the  same  in  all  places,  and  though  it  is  said  that  a  good  trimmer 
is  usually  born,  the  experienced  maker  or  copyist  is  evolved  by 
right  training.  The  wages  paid  to  a  good  copyist  range  from  $10 
to,  $20  a  week.  The  demands  made  are  much  less  than  those 
made  on  a  trimmer,  as  originality  and  designing  are  not  so  much 
considered  as  the  ability  to  copy  the  ideas  of  another.  If  one 
who  starts  as  an  apprentice  in  the  workroom  has  ability,  it  is 
soon  recognized,  and  there  is  no  house  which  is  not  always  ready 
to  encourage  and  advance  such  a  one.  So  far,  apprenticeship 
has  been  the  general  means  of  training.  Girls  have  begun  in  the 
workroom,  usually  as  a  result  of  circumstances,  not  from  special 


DOMESTIC   SCIENCE  AND  ARTS  115 

aptitude,  and  have  been  advanced  step  by  step  as  ability  or 
demand  necessitated.  To-day  trade  schools  and  domestic  arts 
departments  are  rising  on  all  sides,  designed  to  save  the  long  period 
of  apprenticeship.  As  yet,  however,  the  practical  milliner  has 
had  too  little  experience  with  graduates  of  these  schools  to -tell 
whether  such  training  can  be  substituted  for  that  gained  by  actual 
experience  in  the  workroom. 

The  dark  side  of  the  millinery  business  lies  in  the  short  sea- 
sons. People  leave  the  city  earlier  every  year,  and  return  later. 
The  work,  therefore,  that  should  take  months  in  accomplish- 
ment, must  be  crowded  into  a  few  short  weeks.  The  ability  of 
quick  workers  is  in  great  demand,  and  yet  you  will  learn  in 
any  millinery  establishment  that  a  very  small  proportion  of 
those  employed  in  its  workroom  are  first-class  workers. 

In  more  than  twenty  years  of  business  experience  I  have 
found  the  best  results  brought  about  by  those  women  who  have 
had  the  advantages  of  a  good  education.  Better  system,  better 
perception  of  the  needs  and  the  individuality  of  the  customer* 
characterize  their  effort,  while  their  interest  in  the  work  has 
raised  the  standard  in  the  millinery  business  both  in  the  Old 
World  and  in  the  New. 

The  salesroom  of  an  exclusive  millinery  house  offers  to  a  woman 
with  tact,  patience,  and  adaptability  to  circumstances  and  cus- 
tomers, an  established  position,  where  the  cultured,  college-bred 
woman  has  an  opportunity  to  exercise  in  many  ways  the  results 
of  her  training.  A  saleswoman  with  artistic  inclinations  and  a 
pleasing  address,  who  is  interested  in  her  business  relations,  may 
in  a  few  seasons  build  up  a  personal  following  of  customers,  not 
only  reflecting  her  good  judgment,  but  adding  materially  to  her 
value  and  to  that  of  the  house  employing  her.  A  first-class 
saleswoman  is  not  easily  found,  and  she  demands  a  salary  ranging 
from  $15  to  $30  a  week. 

A  successful  buyer  is  usually  the  outgrowth  of  the  successful 
saleswoman,  who  has  mastered  the  problems  of  the  workroom  as 
well  as  of  the  salesroom.  The  ability  to  sell  is  usually  a  natural 
aptitude  of  the  individual,  but  training  gives  poise,  a  better  rec- 
ognition of  values,  and  greater  ability  to  please,  in  place  of  a 
superficial  knowledge  of  the  ordinary  details  of  the  business. 


116  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

The  best  teacher  is  experience,  but  not  all  people  can  give  the 
time  required  in  order  to  start  from  the  beginning  of  a  business 
career.  For  these  the  trade  school  may  prove  in  time  to  be  an 
effective  substitute.  Meanwhile  the  applied  experiences  of  those 
who  have,  step  by  step,  mastered  the  problems  of  the  practical 
business  world  of  to-day  must,  to  a  certain  degree,  be  the  standard 
for  those  who  will  follow. 


THE   EDUCATED   WOMAN   IN  MILLINERY 
EVELYN  SMITH  TOBEY 

DIRECTOR,  DEPARTMENT  OF  MILLINERY,  TEACHERS  COLLEGE,  NEW  YORK 

To  an  educated  woman  training  in  millinery  opens  two  gen- 
eral fields  of  activity,  teaching  and  trade. 

Teaching  may  be  formal,  as  prescribed  by  a  board  of  educa- 
tion and  carried  out  in  a  class-room,  or  it  may  be  informal,  as 
in  clubs  and  in  private  classes. 

Training  for  teaching  is  best  acquired  by  a  good  course  of  in- 
struction, supplemented  by  at  least  one  season's  work  in  a  shop. 
Training  with  a  good  teacher  affords  the  opportunity  not  only 
to  learn  the  subject,  but  to  see  a  method  of  its  presentation  to 
a  class.  Work  in  a  shop  brings  the  student  in  touch  with  the 
organization  of  the  business  side  of  the  art,  and  makes  her  better 
fitted  as  a  teacher  to  lead  classes  in  which  there  are  girls  pre- 
paring for  the  trade.  All  this  preparation  is  preliminary,  for 
each  season  the  teacher  should  learn  what  is  new  from  the  studios 
of  the  designers,  and  should  bring  it  to  her  class.  This  can  be 
done  by  visiting  the  shops  of  the  city,  if  possible  spending  a  few 
weeks  in  some  one  of  them,  and  by  reading  the  best  magazines 
of  fashion  contributed  to  by  the  leading  designers  of  costume. 
An  occasional  visit  to  Paris  is  as  necessary  to  the  teacher  of 
millinery  as  the  visit  to  Europe  to  the  professor  of  history  or 
English. 

Opportunities  for  teachers  of  millinery  are  to  be  found  in  the 
day  schools,  in  the  night  schools,  in  the  summer  schools  of  the 
city,  and  in  some  normal  schools  and  colleges.  The  salaries  for 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  AND  ARTS  117 

these  positions  are  always  adequate  and  often  surprisingly  large, 
because  the  subject  is  comparatively  a  new  one  in  the  cur- 
ricula, and  there  is  an  insufficient  number  of  teachers;  not 
every  student  of  domestic  art  will  make  a  good  teacher  of  mil- 
linery. Other  positions  are  to  be  found  in  the  settlements,  girls' 
clubs,  and  Young  Women's  Christian  Associations  of  the  cities. 
Remuneration  in  such  positions  ranges  from  $2  to  $5  a  lesson. 
The  fashionable  private  schools  for  several  years  have  been  giv- 
ing domestic  art  and  science  a  prominent  place.  One  well- 
known  private  school  in  New  York  City  has  opened  an  auxiliary 
household  arts  school,  in  which  are  registered  not  only  the  school's 
regular  pupils,  but  many  of  the  alumnae  and  other  special  students. 
Some  of  the  most  successful  teaching  in  millinery  and  sewing  is 
being  done  in  classes  for  the  society  girl,  and  her  conscientious- 
ness and  industry  can  be  fairly  compared  with  that  of  the  student 
in  the  trade  class.  Finally,  there  are  the  classes  which  may  be 
organized  by  the  teacher  herself,  meeting  at  her  home  or  at  the 
home  of  some  member.  An  enterprising  student,  upon  the  com- 
pletion of  a  millinery  course,  began  this  kind  of  work  last  autumn 
by  sending  her  card  to  a  number  of  her  friends  and  acquaintances 
in  one  of  New  York's  suburbs.  She  promptly  received  30  appli- 
cations and  organized  2  classes,  giving  to  each  a  two-hour 
lesson  weekly.  She  received  $10  for  10  lessons  from  every 
student,  thus  earning  $30  a  week  for  4  hours'  work. 

Trade  offers  the  educated  woman  a  position  in  the  business 
shop,  the  salary  for  which  ranges  from  $12  to  $100  a  week,  de- 
pending entirely  upon  her  executive  ability.  If  she  finds  herself 
not  adapted  to  the  life  of  the  formal  business  world,  there  is  for 
her  the  private  work  of  the  home  milliner,  who  either  visits  her 
customers  or  has  them  come  to  her  in  her  home.  The  oppor- 
tunity for  this  sort  of  service  is  as  far-reaching  as  the  clever- 
ness of  the  private  milliner  will  carry  her.  She  must  have  re- 
spect for  the  scrap-bag,  and  see  the  possibilities  in  a  worn-out 
black  taffeta  petticoat  for  a  chic  mourning  hat.  She  need  not 
seek  her  clientele  only  among  the  "genteel  poor,"  for  she  will  be 
surprised  at  the  interest  of  the  common-sense  woman  of  wealth 
in  her  clever  utilization  of  old  laces,  feathers,  and  other  hat  mate- 
rials. If  she  can  get  the  confidence  of  this  sort  of  woman,  she 


118  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

may  make  for  her  mink  and  ostrich  hats,  using  fascinating  new 
things.  A  sealskin  hat,  trimmed  with  paradise  aigrettes,  costing 
$135,  was  copied  by  a  private  milliner  for  a  customer  last  winter 
for  $55.  The  remuneration  of  the  private  milliner  depends  upon 
so  many  varying  conditions  that  it  is  impossible  even  approxi- 
mately to  estimate  it. 

Trade  to-day  needs  the  influence  of  the  cultured  woman  more 
than  she  may  need  to  go  to  trade  for  her  support.  To  realize 
this,  it  is  necessary  only  to  visit  the  opening  of  a  wholesale  or 
retail  shop  in  a  large  city.  The  coiffure  and  costume  of  the  sales- 
woman are  absurdly  inappropriate.  She  does  not  appear  like  a 
business  woman,  who  has  dressed  in  the  early  morning  to  report 
for  duty  at  8.30,  but  rather  like  a  woman  in  an  opera  box.  Her 
attitude  is  often  rude  and  bored.  The  modest  woman  hesitates 
to  accept  the  opinion  of  so  vulgar  a  person  as  to  what  is  fashion- 
able or  suitable  for  her.  This  type  of  American  business  woman 
is  the  dictator  of  millinery  fashion  for  us.  The  extreme,  ridicu- 
lous, and  extravagant  hats  in  which  the  wits  and  cartoonists  of 
the  newspapers  find  so  much  inspiration  are  the  result  of  the 
influence  of  this  kind  of  importer.  If  the  well-bred,  educated 
woman  were  taking  special  training  and  offering  her  services 
to  trade,  all  this  would  not  be  true.  She  could,  during  her  visits 
to  Paris,  visit  the  bibliotheques  to  see  the  old  prints  and  to  read 
the  history  of  costume  of  the  period  which  is  being  used  as  sug- 
gestion by  the  designers  of  the  season's  style.  Her  education 
in  history  and  the  fine  arts  would  make  her  the  best  messenger 
of  fashion.  Why  has  all  this  responsibility  been  left  to  the  mil- 
liner trained  only  in  her  trade?  Perhaps  it  is  because  the  edu- 
cated woman  has  not  been  available.  The  leading  positions  in 
the  big  business  field,  with  their  broad  interests  and  magnificent 
salaries,  certainly  offer  the  most  promising  opening  for  millinery 
work,  and  the  success  of  the  educated  woman  in  this  field  is 
assured. 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  AND  ARTS  119 


INTERIOR  DECORATION 

CELESTE  WEED  ALLBRIGHT 

GRTJNDMANN  STUDIOS,  BOSTON 

Interior  decoration,  as  a  profession  for  woman,  is  perhaps 
the  one  of  all  others  to  which  she  brings  the  greatest  number  of 
qualifications,  simply  in  the  fact  that  she  is  a  woman.  The 
more  distinctly  womanly  her  habits,  the  more  domestic  her 
tastes,  so  much  the  better  is  she  qualified  for  this  particular  kind 
of  work,  if  to  her  natural  gifts  be  added  training.  It  is  a  pro- 
fession, however,  which  should  be  approached  with  all  serious- 
ness. Often  I  have  heard  it  said :  "  I  should  like  that  kind  of  work, 
and  think  I  could  do  it.  I  have  good  taste  in  the  selecting  of 
things  and  a  delight  in  color."  These  qualifications  are  neces- 
sary, most  assuredly, — but  not  enough.  Both  taste  and  a  delight 
in  color  must  be  governed  by  knowledge, — a  knowledge  capable 
of  nice  discriminations,  able  to  give  the  reason  why  for  each 
suggestion,  for  each  decision;  and  together  with  taste  and  knowl- 
edge the  decorator,  to  be  really  successful,  must  possess  un- 
limited patience,  be  tactful,  resourceful,  have  a  quick  percep- 
tion of  the  individualities  of  those  for  whom  she  works,  and  a 
readiness  to  forget  self  in  thinking  for  another.  It  is  her  privi- 
lege and  pleasure  to  create — by  the  use  of  her  particular  knowl- 
edge— the  environment  for  her  clients  which  shall  help  them  to 
live  each  his  own  life  most  successfully.  Color,  form,  mass, 
all  have  their  psychological  values, — create  rest  or  irritation  by 
their  proper  or  improper  use,  apart  from  their  values  as  things 
of  utility  or  beauty,  and  only  as  they  are  given  their  right  place 
in  the  ensemble  are  they  in  any  sense  worthy. 

There  are  to-day  two  ways  in  which  decorators  are  working, — 
the  one  from  a  shop,  an  establishment,  the  other  from  a  studio; 
the  one  mercantile,  a  business  enterprise,  the  other  a  profession 
on  an  artistic  plane.  To  have  a  shop,  keeping  in  stock  materials 
of  one  kind  or  another, — selected  ever  so  carefully,  perhaps  of 
intrinsic  beauty  in  themselves, — will  invariably  bias  judgments, 
unconsciously  perhaps,  but  none  the  less  unavoidably.  "In- 


120  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

vested  capital  must  be  turned,  money  must  be  made  to  earn.'* 
A  shop  of  this  kind  may  or  may  not  be  a  good  business  enter- 
prise,— that  depends :  it  can  surely  never  be  the  place  from  which 
one,  feeling  the  true  significance  of  the  profession,  can  work  suc- 
cessfully, if  success  be  based  on  the  quality  of  the  work  achieved 
in  the  ideal  sense.  An  architect  considers  the  many  sides  of  each 
building  proposition,  creates  his  design,  constructs  his  plans 
with  due  regard  to  the  requirements  and  tastes  of  his  client,  and 
by  a  series  of  eliminations  is  at  last  able  to  produce  a  building, 
the  expression  of  one  idea,  having  much  in  common  with  all 
other  buildings,  yet  individual  in  itself.  So  a  decorator,  to  be 
artistically  and  ideally  successful,  must  be  unhampered  by  ma- 
terials at  hand,  be  free  to  look  at  each  proposition  independently, 
solve  it  on  its  own  merits,  minimizing  or  losing  altogether  that 
which  is  mean  or  ignoble,  enlarging  and  enhancing  that  which 
is  noble  and  best. 

This  kind  of  work  is,  I  believe,  less  taxing  physically  than 
many  of  the  other  professions,  particularly  that  of  teaching. 
I  believe  also,  with  ordinary  success,  it  affords  rather  better 
compensation.  One  might  perhaps  attain  to  a  brilliant  financial 
success  by  ingenious  and  unique  advertising,  but  there  is  danger 
here  of  dropping  into  a  business,  losing  the  profession.  It  is  as 
inconsistent  for  a  decorator  to  advertise  his  work  as  an  artist 
his  paintings,  an  architect  his  buildings.  The  best  advertise- 
ment for  all  is  good  work.  The  compensation  depends  on  the 
amount  of  work,  the  charge  being  a  per  cent,  on  the  total  ex- 
penditure, the  same  as  with  architects,  landscape  architects, 
and  others  working  similarly. 

In  training  for  any  profession,  one  cannot  urge  too  strongly 
the  necessity  of  thoroughness.  Surely  the  decorator's  pro- 
fession is  no  exception.  When  one  thinks  of  the  numbers  of 
things  which  contribute  to  the  furnishing  of  the  house,  from  the 
coal-bins  of  the  cellar  to  the  slant-walled  chambers  under  the 
roof,  from  the  pots  and  pans  of  the  kitchen  to  the  daintiest  bit 
of  bric-a-brac  of  the  parlor,  of  the  many  things  of  which  a  decora- 
tor should  have  an  intimate  knowledge  and  the  numberless  things 
of  which  more  or  less  knowledge  is  desirable,  one  will  readily 
see  how  broad  and  comprehensive  the  training  should  be.  A 


DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  AND  ARTS  121 

thorough  understanding  of  the  theory  and  practice  of  design 
and  of  the  harmony  of  color;  a  broad  acquaintance  with  the 
history  and  development  of  architecture,  embracing,  as  it  does, 
the  study  of  the  various  building  materials,  their  uses  and 
abuses,  of  lighting,  heating,  sanitation,  etc.,  with  their  fixtures 
and  appliances;  a  knowledge  of  the  history  of -the  manufacture 
of  stuffs, — damasks,  tapestries,  laces, — of  furniture,  of  wall  and 
floor  coverings, — all  these  are  indispensable.  The  young  woman 
in  college,  thinking  to  make  interior  decoration  her  profession, 
can  do  much  by  way  of  preparation  while  yet  an  undergraduate, 
in  the  choice  of  her  electives,  taking  such  as  will  naturally  bear 
on  the  particular  work  to  come  later. 

The  woman  of  taste  and  refinement,  trained  to  use  all  her 
faculties,  willing  to  dedicate  herself  to  interior  decoration,  will, 
in  my  opinion,  find  ample  opportunity  in  the  furnishing — not 
merely  of  the  individual  home,  important  as  that  may  be,  but 
also  of  homes  in  the  collective  sense, — dormitories,  college  halls, 
hotels,  hospitals,  and  other  institutions.  It  is  perhaps  in  these 
collective  homes  that  the  influence  of  the  woman  of  cultivated 
training  is  most  needed. 


IV 
AGRICULTURE 


AGRICULTURAL   OCCUPATIONS 

A.  R.  MANN 

SBCHETAKT  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  STATE  COLLEGE  OF  AGRICULTURE  AT  CORNELL  UNIVERSITY 
IN  CO-OPERATION  WITH   OTHER  MEMBERS  OF  THE   STAFF 

In  all  countries  and  in  all  times  women  have  borne  a  share, 
sometimes  a  preponderating  share,  in  the  raising  of  crops  and  the 
tending  of  animals.  The  early  explorers  of  North  America  bear 
testimony  to  the  skill  of  the  Indian  women  farmers:  they 
cleared  the  fields,  sowed  the  seed,  cultivated  the  growing  crops 
of  maize  and  pumpkins,  and  without  power  other  than  their 
own.  By  their  farming  they  laid  the  foundations  for  a  settled 
life. 

As  to  the  place  taken  by  women  to-day  in  farming,  a  review 
of  the  census  reports  reveals  certain  interesting  facts.  At  the 
census  of  1900,  the  number  of  women  sixteen  years  of  age  and 
over  reported  as  farmers,  planters,  and  overseers  in  continental 
United  States  was  307,706;  agricultural  laborers,  456,405;  other 
agricultural  pursuits,  5,944;  total,  770,055.  The  total  number 
of  adults  reported  as  engaged  in  this  occupation  was  5,674,875, 
so  that  the  number  of  women  farmers,  planters,  and  overseers 
(307,706)  reported  constituted  but  5.4  per  cent.,  or  approximately 
one-twentieth  of  the  total.  Of  the  47  occupations  listed 
as  employing  5,000  female  breadwinners,  however,  only  5 — 
the  servants  and  waitresses,  the  female  agricultural  laborers,  the 
dressmakers,  the  laundresses,  and  the  teachers — exceeded  the 
occupation  of  farmer  in  the  actual  number  of  women  employed. 
Because  of  the  large  number  of  women  engaged  in  it,  the  occupa- 

122 


AGRICULTURE  123 

tion  of  farming  is,  therefore,  very  important  in  the  consideration 
of  the  employment  of  women. 

The  census  reports  for  1900  reveal  the  fact  also  that  native 
white  women,  with  both  parents  native,  were  by  far  the  most 
important  class  among  female  farmers,  forming  58.3  per  cent;  of 
the  total  number.  The  only  nationality  for  which  the  occupation 
approached  the  importance  shown  for  the  white  of  native 
parentage  was  that  of  the  Norwegians,  for  whom  the  propor- 
tion of  the  total  number  of  female  breadwinners  reported  as 
farmers  was  7.1  per  cent.  The  Swiss  ranked  second,  with  5.8 
per  cent. 

That  farming  is  pre-eminently  an  occupation  of  women  in 
middle  life  or  old  age  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that,  of  the  total 
number  of  female  farmers  above  referred  to,  only  13.5  per  cent., 
or  about  2  in  15,  were  under  thirty -five  years  of  age;  while  66.3 
per  cent.,  or  almost  2  in  3,  were  over  forty-four.  That  the  female 
farmers  as  a  class  should  be  so  old  is  the  result  of  the  condi- 
tions under  which  most  of  them  take  up  farming.  The  occupa- 
tion has  not  appealed  largely  to  young  unmarried  women.  It 
normally  requires  a  certain  amount  of  capital  and  experience, 
and  to  a  single  woman  without  family  ties  other  methods  of 
gaining  a  livelihood  have  appeared  more  feasible.  The  statistics 
indicate  that  most  of  the  women  reported  as  farmers  were  once 
farmers'  wives,  who  upon  the  death  of  the  husband  managed  the 
farm;  no  less  than  73.4  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  female 
farmers  were  widows.  Married  women,  who  were  next  in  im- 
portance to  the  widows,  formed  only  15.6  per  cent.  Single 
women  formed  9.1  per  cent.  Of  the  47  occupations  employing 
5,000  or  more  women,  this  showed  the  lowest  proportion  of  single 
women  and  the  highest  proportion  of  widows. 

Turning  to  the  classification  of  women  as  to  type  or  kind  of 
agricultural  occupation  engaged  in,  the  Twelfth  Census  reports 
as  follows  for  females  ten  years  of  age  and  over  in  continental 
United  States:  farm  and  plantation  laborers,  220,048;  farm 
laborers  (members  of  family),  441,055;  garden  and  nursery 
laborers,  2,106;  dairy  women,  892;  farmers  and  planters, 
291,181;  farmers  (members  of  family),  14,691;  farm  and  planta- 
tion overseers,  1,583;  milk  farmers,  251;  gardeners,  1," 


124  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

florists,  nursery  women,  and  vine-growers,  1,136;  fruit-growers, 
525;  stock -raisers,  1,081;  stock  herders  and  drovers,  851;  apia- 
rists, 48. 

With  this  general  statement  before  us,  we  may  consider  some- 
what more  in  detail  some  of  the  opportunities  for  women  in  agri- 
cultural occupations  other  than  teaching;  and  we  shall  look  at 
the  question  as  a  matter  of  choice  of  life-work  rather  than  as  an 
inherited  responsibility  with  little  or  no  alternative. 

General  Farming.  There  would  seem  to  be  no  inherent  rea- 
sons why  women  should  not  occupy  positions  of  responsibility 
and  trust  in  connection  with  almost  every  line  of  agriculture. 
There  are  numerous  instances  in  which  a  farmer's  success  has  de- 
pended more  on  the  business  ability,  knowledge,  energy,  and  tact 
of  his  wife  than  on  his  own  attainments;  and  it  is  a  safe  assump- 
tion that  these  women  would  have  managed  a  farm  for  themselves 
successfully,  as  a  number  of  women  are  doing.  With  equal 
abilities  there  should  be  approximately  equal  results  in  managing 
a  farm  for  one's  self.  In  managing  a  farm  for  others,  however, 
a  woman  would  need  not  only  to  show  equal  ability  with  a  man, 
but  to  overcome  what  might  be  called  a  traditional  prejudice 
against  women  occupying  unusual  positions.  The  proprietor  of 
an  estate  would  require  that  a  woman  should  have  demonstrated 
that  she  is  more  than  equal  to  a  man  competitor  for  a  position 
before  he  would  give  her  the  preference.  There  is  evidence,  how- 
ever, that  this  hindrance  to  woman's  advancement  is  not  so  pro- 
nounced as  it  used  to  be. 

Another  difficulty  that  women  would  meet  in  managing  farms 
for  others  is  that  much  of  the  labor  in  most  of  these  estab- 
lishments can  be  done  better  by  men  than  by  women,  and 
that  most  men  prefer  not  to  be  under  the  supervision  of  a 
woman.  Frequently  this  is  mere  prejudice,  but  it  is  difficult  to 
overcome. 

There  are  not  now  many  openings  for  women  in  general  farm- 
ing except  as  women  undertake  it  as  a  private  enterprise.  This 
is,  no  doubt,  partly  the  result  of  woman's  not  having  entered  the 
field  as  a  competitor,  as  is  the  case  in  certain  European  countries. 
With  improved  methods  and  means  of  farming  there  is  no  reason, 
however,  why  an  increasing  number  of  women  may  not  engage 


AGRICULTURE  125 

therein.  For  such  work  their  preparation  would  need  to  be  at 
least  as  thorough  as  would  be  required  of  men  for  similar  posi- 
tions. As  to  salary,  women  would  doubtless  have  to  start  at 
less  salary  than  men,  simply  to  secure  an  opportunity  to  demon- 
strate equal  ability. 

Special  Farming.  In  certain  specialties,  however,  the  oppor- 
tunities for  women  are  as  great  as  for  men,  and  in  these  special- 
ties women  have  shown  their  hand  more  than  in  general  farming 
enterprises.  It  would  seem  pre-eminently  fitting  for  women  to 
become  managers  of  poultry-raising,  bee-keeping,  and  flower- 
growing  establishments,  and,  in  but  slightly  less  degree,  of  vege- 
table-gardening and  fruit-growing  enterprises.  In  certain  lines 
of  dairying,  women  have  made  notable  successes.  In  the  more 
technical  phases  of  these  specialties,  demanding  a  high  degree 
of  training  and  expertness,  there  are  increasing  opportunities 
for  capable  women  who  have  had  sufficient  special  education. 
We  shall  discuss  these  specialties  separately. 

Poultry-raising.  There  are  four  possible  opportunities  for 
women  to  engage  in  poultry  husbandry  aside  from  teaching  the 
subject:  (a)  running  a  poultry  farm  for  themselves;  (b)  work- 
ing for  others  in  managing  a  poultry  enterprise;  (c)  investigating 
poultry  problems;  (d)  writing  for  the  press, — this  to  be  com- 
bined with  any  of  the  other  three.  The  first  field  offers  the  best 
inducements  to  the  average  woman,  primarily  because  the  work 
is  not  so  heavy  as  that  of  most  other  agricultural  occupations. 
It  requires  less  capital  and  a  smaller  amount  of  land  and  equip- 
ment than  certain  other  branches  of  agriculture.  Furthermore, 
woman  is  especially  well  adapted  to  look  after  details  such  as  are 
required  in  the  raising  of  poultry.  There  are  many  conspicuous 
examples  of  women  who  have  been  successful  in  running  poultry 
farms  for  themselves.  The  second  field  offers  less  inducements  to 
women  because  men  in  charge  of  poultry  farms  believe  that  women, 
as  a  rule,  are  not  physically  qualified  to  do  the  work  in  a  way 
that  men  could  be  depended  on  to  do  it,  rain  or  shine,  under 
all  conditions  and  circumstances.  In  the  third  field,  women 
who  have  adequate  technical  education,  coupled  with  practical 
experience,  have  an  excellent  opportunity  to  engage  in  investiga- 
tion of  poultry  problems  at  the  agricultural  experiment  stations. 


126  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

Few  experiment  stations  have  yet  awaked  to  the  realization 
that  women  may  be  employed  to  good  advantage  as  investiga- 
tors, but  where  women  have  been  so  employed,  they  have 
shown  special  fitness.  In  the  last  field  there  are  now  many 
women  who  are  successful  writers  on  poultry  subjects.  For  the 
most  part  they  are  engaged  in  raising  poultry  for  themselves. 
This  work,  however,  must  be  considered  as  an  avocation  rather 
than  a  vocation. 

In  preparation,  a  woman,  to  engage  successfully  in  raising 
poultry  for  herself  or  for  others,  in  investigation,  or  in  writing 
for  the  press,  must  secure  information  and  practical  skill  such  as 
can  best  be  acquired  through  a  poultry  course  in  one  of  the  agri- 
cultural schools  or  colleges,  combined  with  experience  on  a  success- 
ful poultry  farm.  When  such  school  or  college  training  cannot 
be  had,  a  longer  apprenticeship  on  a  poultry  farm  becomes  neces- 
sary. Success  depends  upon  careful  attention  to  details,  close 
application  to  business,  good  judgment  in  buying  and  selling,  and 
skill  in  the  handling  of  the  flock.  When  these  requirements  are 
met,  there  are  few,  if  any,  agricultural  occupations  that  offer 
better  opportunities  for  women  who  enjoy  the  work. 

As  to  income,  a  good  living  with  what  would  be  a  reasonable 
wage  in  other  occupations  open  to  women  could  be  expected  in 
the  keeping  of  poultry.  Approximately  $1  per  year  per  hen 
should  be  made,  provided  the  location,  markets,  and  other  con- 
ditions are  favorable.  Many  women  have  done  better  than  this. 
One  woman  of  ordinary  strength  should  be  able  to  care  for 
500  fowls  and  rear  the  chickens  each  year  to  renew  the  flock. 
With  best  modern  methods  and  some  additional  help  the  num- 
ber could  be  increased  to  1,000  or  more.  The  salary  for  man- 
aging a  poultry  farm  for  another  and  the  payments  for  articles 
contributed  to  the  poultry  press  should  equal  those  paid  to  men 
for  similar  work. 

As  an  indication  of  the  success  women  may  attain  in  raising 
poultry  for  themselves,  it  may  be  interesting  to  note  the  following 
statements  from  two  farm  women,  selected  at  random  from  a 
number  of  letters  from  women  on  farms: — 


AGRICULTURE  127 

This  year  I  sold  $110  worth  of  eggs  from  60  hens,  besides  hatching 
254  chicks,  and  using  a  great  many  eggs  in  the  family.  I  have  now  128 
fowls.  They  began  laying  in  November,  and  we  have  sold  from  2  to  7 
dozen  all  winter,  at  40  cents.  I  had  one-half  acre  prepared  for  small 
fruit, — 1,700  raspberries,  and  2,000  strawberries  between.  My  straw- 
berries did  fairly  well,  and  the  raspberries  looked  fine.  After  the  first 
picking  the  dry  hot  weather  hurt  them  very  much,  so  we  got  about 
half  a  crop.  It  netted  about  $75.  I  have  an  asparagus  bed,  and  cur- 
rant cuttings  set  out,  and  about  4,000  strawberries  in  another  place  for 
next  year. 

Last  year  (1905)  I  had  75  hens.  They  laid  900  dozen  eggs.  The 
average  price  for  those  I  sold  was  23  cents  per  dozen.  That  would  be 
$207.  Then  I  sold  $80  worth  of  poultry,  which  would  be  $287,  and  I 
have  95  hens  left,  and  my  flock  is  worth  a  great  deal  more,  as  I  saved 
only  my  best.  I  cannot  tell  just  what  it  cost  to  feed  them,  but  am  sure 
$100  paid  for  all  I  fed  them,  as  they  have  free  range.  I  am  sure  I  re- 
ceived $200  profit  from  them.  Besides,  I  take  pleasure  in  caring  for 
them.  I  have  neither  incubator  nor  brooder.  The  hens  do  it  all. 

Dairying.  The  openings  for  women  in  dairy  work  at  the  pres- 
ent time  appear  to  be:  (a)  the  general  management  of  dairy 
farms,  including  the  handling  of  the  stock,  the  production  of 
milk,  and  possibly  other  dairy  products, — many  women  are  now 
successfully  running  dairy  farms,  are  enjoying  the  work  and 
getting  good  returns;  (6)  the  manufacture  of  milk  into  butter 
or  fancy  cheese, — there  are  good  opportunities  for  women  on  the 
farm  to  make  their  milk  into  a  high  grade  of  butter  or  into 
Neufchatel,  cottage,  or  cream  cheese,  and  get  good  returns  for 
the  product;  (c)  work  in  dairy  bacteriology  for  those  who  have 
the  necessary  technical  training. 

The  number  of  openings,  at  the  present  time,  for  women  in 
these  lines  of  dairy  work  is  not  very  great,  but  it  is  increasing 
constantly  as  women  acquire  the  necessary  knowledge  for  the 
different  kinds  of  work  and  recognize  that  it  is  pleasant  and  profit- 
able. The  length  of  time  necessary  to  secure  the  adequate  train- 
ing depends  upon  the  nature  of  the  work  to  be  undertaken.  To 
manage  a  dairy  farm  successfully,  it  is  necessary  to  have  wide 
general  experience  and  training.  For  the  manufacture  of  fancy 
.butter  or  cheese  a  short  winter  course  in  one  of  the  schools  or 


128  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

colleges  of  agriculture  will  suffice;  and  one  who  cannot  take 
such  a  course  may  be  able  to  master  the  work  by  practical  experi- 
ence based  on  the  reliable  published  instructions  that  are  avail- 
able in  books  and  bulletins.  For  work  in  bacteriology  one  should 
have  a  college  course,  including  not  less  than  one,  and  preferably 
two  years  of  bacteriological  work. 

It  is  impossible  to  state  with  any  degree  of  definiteness  the 
salaries  that  may  be  expected  except  in  the  case  of  women  who 
undertake  bacteriological  work.  A  number  of  women  are  now 
engaged  as  bacteriologists,  and  are  receiving  at  the  outset  $50  to 
$60  per  month  with  rapid  increase  up  to  $1,000  or  $1,200  per 
year.  For  the  practical  work  the  income  will  vary  from  a  bare 
subsistence  to  a  very  comfortable  living,  as  measured  by  the 
capability  of  the  person. 

Horticulture.  In  the  practical  field  of  horticulture  there  is 
no  limit  or  restriction  to  the  possibilities  of  woman's  work.  She 
may  engage  in  any  of  the  fields  open  to  men.  If,  however,  she 
is  to  be  a  hand  worker,  some  limitations  will  arise.  In  this  event 
the  department  of  floriculture  offers  the  most  attractive  oppor- 
tunities. In  the  greenhouse,  women  have  made  notable  suc- 
cesses, although  it  should  be  remembered  that  greenhouse 
work  is  as  trying  and  strenuous  as  almost  any  vocation  one  may 
enter. 

What  the  financial  possibilities  are  in  this  field  is  dependent  upon 
the  business  ability,  practical  knowledge,  and  perseverance  of  the 
worker.  In  the  cut-flower  industry,  women  are  very  generally 
employed  in  the  making  of  designs  and  in  the  handling  of  the 
flower  products.  This  is  somewhat  exhausting  work  in  that  the 
temperature  desirable  for  the  preservation  of  flowers  is  always 
low  and  the  atmosphere  is  necessarily  moist.  The  salaries  paid 
to  ordinary  workers  in  this  phase  of  floriculture  range  from  $7 
to  $15  per  week,  while  competent  forewomen  secure  as  much 
as  $20  to  $30  per  week. 

The  woman  who  has  had  a  good  foundation  in  the  principles 
of  agriculture  may  engage  in  truck-gardening,  commercial  flori- 
culture, or  orcharding,  provided  she  is  supplied  with  sufficient 
capital  properly  to  launch  the  enterprise.  In  the  vicinity  of 
large  cities  there  is  attractive  opportunity  for  women  in  these 


AGRICULTURE  129 

fields.  For  all  these  vocations  a  good  general  training,  such  as 
can  be  best  secured  in  the  agricultural  colleges,  but  may  be  se- 
cured by  reading,  observation,  and  experience,  is  a  fundamental 
requisite. 

The  openings  for  women  in  the  more  special  and  technical 
branches  may  be  roughly  classified  as  follows:  as  clerical  and 
technical  assistants  in  civil  service  positions,  salaries  $600  to 
$1,500;  assistants  in  laboratories  engaged  in  horticultural  work, 
botany,  plant  pathology  and  physiology,  floriculture  and  land- 
scape art,  salaries  $500  to  $1,000.  In  the  field  of  journalism  there 
is  at  present  considerable  demand  for  nature-study  material 
from  persons  who  are  qualified  to  make  first-hand  observations 
and  deductions.  While  the  number  of  openings  in  this  field  is 
not  large,  the  opportunities  will  probably  increase  in  the  future. 
Payment  is  usually  made  on  the  basis  of  quality  and  character 
of  work. 

Home  canning  and  preserving  cannot  compete  with  commercial 
enterprises,  but  frequently  a  woman  may  build  up  a  local  trade 
that  will  greatly  supplement  her  other  sources  of  income.  This 
is  well  shown  in  the  following  statement  from  a  farm  woman : — 

I  have  several  hundred  currant  and  gooseberry  bushes,  from  which 
fruit  I  can  make  jelly  and  jam  for  city  people,  which  brings  me  in  quite 
a  little  extra  pocket  money.  Making  Chili  sauce,  sour  cucumber  pickles, 
sweet  tomato  pickles  from  the  cucumbers  and  tomatoes  that  are  left 
after  I  put  up  my  own  fruit  also  brings  me  in  quite  a  little  extra  money. 
From  the  extra  fruit — cherries,  berries,  pears,  peaches,  and  prunes  that 
we  raise  on  our  place — I  have  put  up  as  many  as  50  cans  for  one  person, 
and  I  have  all  I  can  do  of  that  kind  of  work.  I  get  people's  cans  be- 
fore they  go  on  their  summer  vacation,  and  return  them  in  the  fall,  and 
they  are  always  glad  to  pay  a  good  price  for  this  kind  of  work,  and  to 
know  they  can  depend  on  having  everything  good.  I  have  been  at  this 
work  for  over  ten  years. 

Bee-keeping.  While  not  many  women  have  undertaken  bee-keep- 
ing as  their  means  of  livelihood,  a  large  number  enjoy  it  as  an 
avocation  and  as  a  means  of  supplementing  their  available  funds. 
It  offers  an  attractive  field  for  women  who  are  willing  to  devote 


130  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

sufficient  study  and  application  to  it  and  who  are  in  good  physi- 
cal condition.  There  is  little  work  about  an  apiary  that  a  woman 
of  ordinary  strength  cannot  do  alone.  Any  intelligent  woman  can 
start  the  keeping  of  bees  herself  with  the  aid  of  books  and  journals. 
It  will  advantage  her,  however,  if  she  can  have  a  season's  experi- 
ence in  a  successful  apiary.  Little  capital  is  necessary  at  the 
start,  perhaps  $50  or  $75,  as  experience  is  more  important  than 
capital  in  developing  a  paying  apiary.  The  profits  will  vary 
with  the  seasons.  In  good  years  each  colony  may  return  a  net 
profit  of  $4  or  even  $5,  while  in  less  favorable  seasons  $2  or 
$2.50  may  be  all  that  is  returned.  As  it  is  seldom  profitable  to 
keep  more  than  75  to  100  hives  in  one  apiary,  a  limit  is  put  on 
what  may  be  earned.  Since  the  care  given  to  bees  is  intermit- 
tent and  during  part  of  the  year  is  very  little,  this  industry  fits 
in  well  with  the  raising  of  poultry,  berries,  fruit,  flowers,  or  vege- 
tables. 

Technical  Specialties.  The  highest  type  of  expertness  and 
the  longest  period  of  training  are  demanded  when  we  enter  the 
very  technical  phases  of  agriculture,  as  plant-breeding,  plant 
pathology,  landscape  gardening,  and  entomology.  Such  work  de- 
mands careful  college  preparation,  supplemented  by  post-grad- 
uate work  or  personal  investigation  and  study.  For  much  of 
this  work,  women  are  well  adapted,  and  persons  having  the 
requisite  training  should  be  able  to  secure  positions.  A  com- 
paratively small  number  of  women  now  hold  such  positions, 
largely  in  experiment  stations,  the  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture,  or  in  other  research  and  educational  institutions. 
These  positions  pay  eventually,  perhaps,  the  highest  salaries, 
comparing  favorably  with  the  best  salaries  paid  to  women  in  any 
occupation. 

Notwithstanding  that  not  many  women  have  yet  undertaken 
farming  in  some  of  its  phases  on  their  own  initiative  and  respon- 
sibility, there  is  an  increasing  tendency  for  women  to  leave  cleri- 
cal work,  teaching,  and  other  occupations,  and  to  enter  the  field 
of  agriculture.  As  farming  becomes  better  understood  and  better 
organized,  the  opportunities  for  women  to  enter  it  with  prospect 
of  a  good  living  will  multiply.  Many  women  who  are  the  wives 
and  daughters  of  farmers  are  taking  charge  of  different  depart- 


AGRICULTURE  131 

ments  of  farm  work.  Our  schools  and  colleges  of  agriculture  are 
enrolling  an  increasing  number  of  women  students  in  agriculture. 
The  experience  of  some  of  the  older  countries  will,  in  some  respects, 
become  our  experience.  At  Swanley,  Kent,  England,  there  has 
been  established  a  College  of  Agriculture  for  Women,  to  train 
women  to  become  head-gardeners  on  estates,  landscape  gardeners, 
and  the  like.  In  this  country  the  State  colleges  of  agriculture 
are  co-educational,  so  that  women  have  equal  opportunities  with 
men  in  preparation  for  farming  as  a  life-work.  In  increasing 
numbers  they  are  accepting  the  opportunity. 


WOMEN  IN  AGRICULTURE 

KENYON  L.   BUTTERFIELD 

PEEBIDENT,  MASSACHUSETTS  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

I  should  like  to  emphasize  this  fact  at  the  outset,  that  women 
who  have  an  interest  in  country  life,  and  who  are  alert  in  master- 
ing the  details  of  practical  things,  have  open  to  them  remarkable 
opportunities  for  satisfactory  vocations  in  the  realm  of  social 
service  in  connection  with  the  development  of  our  agricultural 
and  country  life  institutions. 

First,  of  course,  there  is  the  teaching  profession.  Teachers 
of  agriculture  are  needed,  to  some  degree,  in  the  lower  grades,  and 
will  soon  be  needed  in  the  high  schools.  For  some  of  these  posi- 
tions men  will  be  demanded,  but  experience  has  shown  that 
women  may  become  very  successful,  especially  with  young  pupils, 
in  arousing  an  interest  in  real  agriculture.  The  rural  librarian 
has  a  field  of  service  that  has  not  yet  been  very  fully  developed. 
In  the  country  a  library  may  be  made  far  more  a  means  of  com- 
munity education  than  it  is  to-day,  and  the  librarian  may  become 
something  more  than  a  keeper  of  books;  she  may  become  a 
leader  in  the  intellectual  life  of  the  community.  As  the  interest 
in  our  country  life  develops,  there  will  be  found  other  occupations 
also  that  are  distinctively  social  in  their  character,  but  which 
require  some  knowledge  of,  and  sympathy  with,  agriculture  and 


132  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

country  life.  I  emphasize  these  opportunities  because  many 
young  women  who  desire  to  associate  themselves  with  agricul- 
ture in  some  form  may  find  these  vocations  fully  as  remunerative 
as  those  which  are  concerned  with  the  business  side  of  industry, 
and  perhaps  even  more  satisfactory. 

I  suppose,  however,  that  the  purpose  of  these  articles  is  to 
indicate  the  opportunities  in  practical  work.  Part  of  what  I 
shall  say  in  a  general  way  will  probably  be  reiterated  by  those 
specialists  who  take  up  various  phases  of  this  subject,  who  are  far 
more  competent  than  I  to  speak  of  the  advantages  and  disad- 
vantages of  agriculture  for  women.  It  seems  to  me,  however, 
that  several  things  ought  to  be  understood  very  clearly.  In  the 
first  place  it  is  doubtful  if  very  many  salaried  positions  will 
open  to  women  in  the  agricultural  occupations.  That  is  a  rather 
important  consideration,  because  salaried  positions  for  men  in 
agriculture  are  increasing  more  rapidly  than  the  supply  of  prop- 
erly trained  men.  It  means,  therefore,  that  most  women  who 
want  to  go  into  agriculture  must  become  independent  farmers. 
That  is,  they  must  establish  a  business  of  their  own.  Now  to 
establish  even  a  small  business  in  agriculture  requires  some  capital, 
and  if  intensive  farming  is  to  be  followed,  such  as  flower-growing 
or  poultry,  it  takes  quite  a  little  capital,  relatively,  to  start  with. 
This  should  not  be  regarded  as  an  utterly  discouraging  difficulty, 
but  it  should  not  be  lost  sight  of.  If  young  women  have  a  form  of 
work  that  brings  them  a  living,  but  desire  to  get  into  some  phase  of 
agriculture,  it  might  be  wise  for  them  to  begin  their  new  work  in  a 
small  way,  as  a  sort  of  avocation.  After  a  time,  if  they  can  suc- 
ceed at  all,  they  will  find  the  business  growing  so  that  they  can 
afford  to  give  up  the  former  work,  and  devote  all  their  energies 
to  the  new  work.  Meanwhile  the  capital  will  have  been  produced 
from  the  returns  of  the  growing  business. 

This  idea  of  making  modest  beginnings  is  worth  noting.  An 
illustration  of  the  failure  of  both  men  and  women  to  do  this  is 
found  frequently  in  the  poultry  industry.  On  the  face  of  things 
the  raising  of  chickens  is  one  of  the  easiest  things  in  the  world: 
practically,  it  is  an  art  that  only  a  few  can  become  adepts  in. 
Or  perhaps  it  would  be  fairer  to  say  that,  while  poultry  are  the 
most  amenable  of  any  living  thing  to  the  ordinary  care  given  in 


AGRICULTURE  133 

the  farm-yard  or  on  the  village  lot,  when  the  business  is  extended 
so  that  it  becomes  the  main  reliance  of  an  individual,  there  are 
problems  arising  of  which  he  did  not  dream  when  he  simply 
"kept  a  few  chickens." 

Another  piece  of  advice  that  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  give  is 
to  prepare  fully.  Occasionally  a  young  woman  who  graduates 
from  an  agricultural  college  goes  to  farming.  Agricultural  high 
schools  are  springing  up  all  over  the  land,  and  probably  will  soon 
be  so  numerous  that  they  will  train  far  more  boys  and  girls  di- 
rectly for  practical  farming  than  do  the  agricultural  colleges. 
Nearly  every  agricultural  college  gives  special  courses  in  the  winter 
or  in  the  summer,  where  mature  people,  who  cannot  spend  time 
for  a  full  college  course  in  agriculture,  can  gain  an  immense  amount 
of  practical  information,  get  an  insight  into  the  modern  principles 
of  agriculture,  and  have  opened  up  to  them  the  riches  of  the  new 
agricultural  literature.  These  courses  are  inexpensive,  and  are 
freely  taken  by  women  as  well  as  by  men.  Several  of  our  agri- 
cultural colleges  also  have  correspondence  and  reading  courses, 
which  may  be  pursued  either  independently  or  as  supplementing 
the  work  of  the  winter  or  summer  school. 


WOMEN  AS  FARMERS 

K.  C.  LIVERMORE 

INSTRUCTOR  IN  FARM  MANAGEMENT,  NEW  YORK  STATE  COLLEGE  OF  AGRICULTURH  AT 
CORNELL  UNIVERSITY 

THE  AGRICULTURAL  SURVEY. 

The  New  York  State  College  of  Agriculture  has  made  an  agri- 
cultural survey  in  Tompkins  County,  New  York,  for  the  purpose 
of  determining  and  studying  the  condition  of  farming.  During 
the  summer  of  1908  practically  every  farm  in  the  towns  of  Ithaca, 
Dryden,  Danby,  and  Lansing  was  visited.  A  record  was  taken  of 
the  business  of  each  farm  for  the  preceding  year. 


134  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

CALCULATIONS  FROM  RECORDS. 

Each  record  shows  the  total  capital  invested  in  the  business, 
any  increase  or  decrease  in  this  capital  for  the  year,  all  the  farm 
receipts  for  the  year,  and  all  the  farm  expenses  for  the  year. 
Receipts  minus  expenses  is  called  the  farm  income.  An  increase 
in  capital  is  included  with  receipts,  and  a  decrease  is  included  with 
expenses.  Personal  and  household  expenses  are  not  considered, 
because  whether  one  buys  new  hats  or  puts  the  money  in  the  bank 
does  not  matter  in  determining  the  profits  in  farming.  The  value 
of  board  of  paid  laborers  is  included  as  an  expense. 

The  farm  income  is  what  the  farmer  had  to  live  on,  if  he  had  no 
previous  debts,  besides  having  farm  products  to  eat  and  a  house 
to  live  in.  It  represents  what  the  unpaid  labor  and  the  capital 
together  produced.  The  farm  income  minus  5  per  cent,  interest 
on  the  capital  is  called  the  family  labor  income.  It  is  the  product 
of  all  unpaid  labor  on  the  farm.  The  family  labor  income,  minus 
the  value  of  all  unpaid  labor  except  the  farmer's,  is  called  the 
labor  income  of  the  farmer.  It  represents  what  the  farmer  has 
cleared  above  all  farm  expenses  and  above  5  per  cent,  interest 
on  his  capital,  besides  having  the  use  of  a  house  and  such  farm 
products  as  were  consumed  in  the  house. 

USE  OF  RECORDS. 

From  these  records,  studies  are  being  made  of  the  profits  in 
farming  as  related  to  systems  of  farming,  size  of  farms,  amount 
of  capital  invested,  crop  yields,  soil  types,  and  many  other  factors. 
This  article  is  the  result  of  a  study  of  women  as  farmers. 

WHY  THERE  ARE  WOMEN  FARMERS. 

With  a  few  possible  exceptions  the  women  in  these  towns 
are  concerned  with  the  business  of  farming  simply  as  a  result  of 
chance.  It  was  not  their  choice  in  the  first  place  to  be  farmers. 
They  were  wives  or  daughters  of  farmers,  and  inherited  their 
farms.  About  half  of  these  women  rented  their  farms  to  tenants, 
and  received  their  incomes  in  the  form  of  rent.  They  cannot  be 
called  farmers,  since  they  are  not  directly  concerned  in  the  farm 


AGRICULTURE  135 

operations.  The  other  half  chose  to  continue  to  make  the  farm 
their  home  rather  than  rent  it.  Some  of  these  women  have  taken 
up  the  business  of  farming  and  engaged  in  it  actively.  Others 
are  living  on  the  farms  and  accepting  such  incomes  as  the  farms 
furnish,  without  making  much  effort  to  increase  the  businessr  Jf 
we  could  eliminate  from  the  following  calculations  the  incomes 
of  those  who  just  lived  on  their  farms  and  did  not  really  farm  them, 
the  average  income  made  by  these  women  would  undoubtedly  be 
greater. 

NUMBER  OF  WOMEN  FARMERS  AND  LANDLORDS. 

Of  957  farms  in  these  4  towns,  87,  or  more  than  9  per  cent., 
were  owned  by  women.  Of  these  87  farms,  41  were  operated  by 
their  owners,  and  46,  or  53  per  cent.,  were  rented  to  tenants. 
Of  the  870  farms  owned  by  men,  only  16  per  cent,  were  rented  to 
tenants.  The  comparison  shows  that  a  much  greater  proportion 
of  the  women  than  of  the  men  rent  their  farms  in  preference  to 
assuming  the  direct  management  of  them.  This  would  naturally 
be  expected.  Altogether  there  were  181  rented  farms,  and  25 
per  cent,  of  these  were  owned  by  women.  Of  the  tenants  on 
these  181  rented  farms,  only  one  was  a  woman. 

AREA  AND  CAPITAL. 

The  women  owned  about  9,077  acres  in  these  4  towns,  104 
acres  apiece  on  the  average.  The  largest  farm  owned  by  a  woman 
contained  409  acres.  All  the  farm  property,  land,  buildings,  ma- 
chinery, and  stock  owned  by  these  women  amounted  to  $396,152. 
The  women  who  personally  operated  their  farms  had  an  average 
investment  of  $4,922.  Those  who  rented  their  farms,  and  who, 
therefore,  had  much  less  invested  in  stock  and  machinery,  had  an 
average  investment  of  $4,225.  The  largest  investment  by  a 
woman  was  $16,075. 

FARM  INCOME. 

Complete  records  of  the  year's  business  were  obtained  from 
32  of  the  women  farmers,  and  the  profits  calculated  on  these. 
The  average  farm  income  made  by  these  women  was   $428. 


136  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

Besides  having  the  use  of  a  house  and  farm  products  to  eat,  the 
average  woman  had  $428  to  live  on,  provided  there  was  no  pre- 
vious indebtedness.  This  amount  in  the  country,  with  no  rent 
to  pay,  with  at  least  half  the  table  necessities  and  most  of  the  fuel 
supplied,  affords  a  comfortable  living. 

LABOR  INCOME. 

The  average  labor  income  made  by  these  women  was  $137. 
In  addition  to  the  use  of  the  house,  the  farm  products,  and  5 
per  cent,  interest  on  her  investment,  the  average  woman  made 
$137.  This  is  about  one-third  as  much  as  the  men  made  above 
their  interest.  The  average  labor  income  made  by  all  the  men, 
including  all  those  who  just  lived  on  their  farms  and  who  were  not 
really  farming,  was  $393. 

The  average  labor  income  alone  does  not  give  a  complete  idea 
of  the  opportunities  for  women  as  farmers.  Of  these  32  women 
farmers : — 

13  made  — $100  to  $    0  as  labor  income 

4  "  0   "      100  " 

9  "  101   "     200  "  " 

1  "  230  "  " 

1  «'  351  "  " 

1  "  516  "  " 

1  "  592  "  " 

1  "  897  "  "         " 

1  "  920  "  "         " 

It  is  evident  that,  although  some  women  do  not  succeed  as 
farmers,  there  are  others  who  are  making  very  good  incomes.  A 
study  of  the  most  successful  ones  will  be  interesting. 

MOST  SUCCESSFUL  WOMEN  FARMERS. 

A  Large  Hay  and  Grain  Farm.  The  business  for  the  year  of 
one  of  the  most  successful  women  farmers  may  be  summarized 
as  follows: — 


AGRICULTURE 


137 


Area. 

Tillable 340  acres 

Timber  and  brush    ...     59     " 
Wasteland 10     " 

Total  .  .  409  acres 


Capital. 

Real  estate $14,000 

Machinery  and  tools     .    .  475 

Horses 550 

Other  stock 250 

AD  else  800 


Total $16,075 


Receipts. 


Wheat 
Oats   . 


Barley  .  .  . 
Buckwheat  . 
Hay  .... 
Potatoes  .  . 
Apples  .  .  . 
Butter  .  .  . 
Eggs  .... 
Poultry  .  .  . 
Hogs  .... 
Miscellaneous 


Total 


$400 

65 

300 

175 

1,470 

8 

40 

20 

40 

18 

45 

63 

$2,644 


Farm  Expenses. 

Labor  and  board    ....  $567 

Seeds 20 

Fertilizers 60 

Machinery SO 

Fences 28 

Building  repairs      ....  15 
Horse  shoeing,  threshing, 

and  miscellaneous  .    .    .  155 

Total    ,  $870 


Total  receipts 
Total  expenses 


Farm  income    .    . 
5%  interest  on  capital 

Family  labor  income 
Unpaid  family  labor    . 


$2,644 
870 

$1,774 
804 

$970 
50 


Woman's  labor  income 


$920 


Besides  the  use  of  her  house  and  the  farm  products  this  woman 
had  $1,774  to  live  on.     Of  this  the  capital  may  be  said  to  have 


138  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

produced  $804,  and  according  to  her  own  estimate  $50  was 
earned  by  other  members  of  the  family,  but  not  paid,  leaving  $920 
as  the  amount  she  alone  produced. 

Like  many  of  the  women  farmers,  this  one  found  it  easier,  and 
probably  more  economical  as  well,  to  have  most  of  the  crops 
grown  "on  shares'*;  that  is,  a  neighbor  did  all  the  work  of  raising 
and  harvesting  the  crops,  furnished  half  the  seed  and  fertilizer, 
and  received  half  the  crops  for  pay.  The  woman  was  thus  relieved 
of  most  of  the  responsibilities. 

Two  cows,  about  50  hens,  and  4  hogs  supplied  the  family  with 
milk,  butter,  poultry,  eggs,  and  pork,  and  furnished  a  surplus  for 
sale.  There  were  5  horses  on  the  place,  and  a  colt  was  being 
raised. 

This  farm  was  the  largest  and  had  the  largest  total  capital  of 
all  the  farms  owned  by  women.  Its  success  was  primarily  due  to 
its  size.  Averages  of  all  the  farms  in  these  four  towns  show  very 
distinctly  that  the  larger  farms  pay  better. 

Only  $60  worth  of  fertilizer  was  used,  and  very  little  stock  was 
kept  on  this  farm.  For  about  six  years  crops  had  been  taken  off 
and  but  little  fertility  returned  to  the  farm.  Of  course,  the  farm 
was  depreciating  in  fertility,  and  cannot  be  expected  to  pay  as 
well  indefinitely. 

A  Fruit  Farm. 

Area.  Capital. 

Tillable 64  acres        Real  estate $3,000 

Timber 6    "            Machinery  and  tools  .    .  300 

Waste  land 1  acre         Horses 350 

Other  stock 500 

Total                             71  acres        All  else  66 


Land  worked  on  shares    .     65  Total $4,216 

Total  acres  worked  .   136  acres 


AGRICULTURE 


139 


Receipts. 

Hay $150 

Plums 900 

Peaches 200 

Wool • .    .  54 

Lambs 91 

Eggs 165 

Butter 10 

Miscellaneous 18 

Share  of  receipts  from  65 

acres  .  200 


Farm  Expenses. 
Labor  and  board    .... 

Feed 

Fertilizers 

Machinery  and  repairs     . 
Building  and  fence  repairs, 
Horseshoeing,     threshing, 
and  miscellaneous 


Total 


$375 

50 

33 

-42 

140 

40 

$680 


Total $1,788 

Total  receipts $1,788 

Total  expenses 680 

Farm  income $1,108 

5%  interest  on  capital 211 


Woman's  labor  income 


$897 


With  3  horses,  $300  worth  of  machinery,  and  $375  worth  of 
hired  help  this  woman  ran  her  farm,  planted  and  harvested  all 
the  crops,  and  cared  for  the  stock.  Not  any  of  the  land  was 
worked  on  shares.  On  the  other  hand,  the  farm  was  found  too 
small,  and  65  acres  of  a  neighboring  farm  were  added  to  it.  After 
paying  a  share  of  the  crops  as  rent  for  this  additional  land,  $200 
worth  of  crops  were  sold.  Two  cows,  30  sheep,  100  hens,  and  2  hogs 
were  kept.  After  supplying  the  family  needs,  there  were  sold 
$5.83  worth  of  wool  and  lambs  from  each  sheep,  and.  $1.10  worth 
of  eggs  from  each  hen.  It  is  not  possible  to  point  to  any  one 
feature  of  this  business  as  the  reason  for  its  success.  The  farm, 
including  the  rented  land,  is  larger  than  the  average.  It  can 
hardly  be  called  a  specialized  fruit  farm,  because  only  two-thirds 
of  the  receipts  are  from  fruit,  and  in  the  record  it  is  remarked  that 
the  orchards  were  not  well  cared  for  and  needed  attention. 

Three  Women  in  Partnership.  Three  women  in  partnership 
managed  their  farm  more  successfully  than  many  of  the  men 
farmers  in  the  neighborhood.  The  labor  problem  was  solved, 


140 


VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 


by  taking  in  a  fourth  partner,  a  man,  who  acted  as  foreman.  He 
paid  one-fourth  of  the  seed  and  labor  expenses,  and  received  a 
house,  board,  and  one-fourth  of  the  receipts  from  crops  and 
lumber. 

Capital. 

Real  estate $8,400 

Machinery  and  tools      .    .        1,000 
Horses 980 


Area. 

Tillable 125  acres 

Timber 60     " 

Permanent  pasture  ...  50     " 

Wasteland    .  5     " 


Other  live  stock 
All  else 


1,045 

725 


Total.  .  240  acres 


Total $12,150 


Receipts.  Farm  Expenses. 

Wheat $271        Labor  and  board,  includ- 

Oats 192            ing  foreman's  share   of 

Buckwheat 68  crops $950 

Hay 752        Seeds 62 

Potatoes 15        Fertilizer 58 

Walnuts 18        Machinery  and  repairs     .             57 

Lumber 300        Building  repairs     ....             S3 

Turkeys 41        Fences 37 

Eggs  and  poultry     ...  108        Miscellaneous 23 

Pork  .    . 173 

Sheep,  lambs,  and  wool  .  189  Total $1,220 

Milk 636 

Cattle 112 

Crops  for  sale   still   on 

hand  at  the  end  of  the 

year 300 

Rent 200 

Total $3,375 

Total  receipts $3,375 

Total  expenses      1,220 

Farm  income $2,155 

5%  interest  on  capital 607 

Labor  income  for  3  women $1,548 

Labor  income  for  1  woman  516 


AGRICULTURE 


141 


The  acreages  of  the  various  crops  were:  corn,  12;  wheat,  18; 
oats,  45;  buckwheat,  14;  hay,  70;  potatoes,  1%.  With  these  crops, 
minus  what  was  sold,  there  were  kept  15  head  of  cattle,  7  horses, 
2  colts,  35  sheep,  2  hogs,  20  pigs,  150  hens,  and  4  turkeys.  The 
farm  was  run  in  a  business-like  way.  Accounts  and  records  were 
carefully  kept  for  the  entire  business.  These  women  were  really 
farming,  and,  moreover,  farming  successfully. 

A  Dairy  Farm.  A  retail  milk  business  provided  a  fair  income 
for  another  woman  farmer.  On  a  farm  of  50  acres  she  grew  most 
of  the  feed  for  11  cows,  3  horses,  and  45  hens.  Some  vegetables 
were  raised,  and  sold  to  the  milk  customers. 


Area,  50  acres. 

Receipts. 

Vegetables    ......  $159 

Milk  at  6  cts  ......  1,118 

Eggs  .........  20 

Total  .......  $1,297 


Capital,  $4,635. 

Farm  Expenses. 
Labor  ......... 

Seeds   ......... 

Feed     ......... 

Machinery  and  repairs  .  . 
Miscellaneous  ..... 

Total   . 


$450 

11 

140 

25 

68 


Total  receipts $1,297 

Total  expenses     694 


Farm  income    .... 
5%  interest  on  capital 

Family  labor  income  . 
Unpaid  family  labor    . 


$603 
232 


Woman's  labor  income 


$371 
20 

$351 


With  a  small  farm  and  small  equipment  this  income  is  as  large 
as  can  reasonably  be  expected  for  this  type  of  farming. 

WOMEN  LANDLORDS. 

Of  the  46  rented  farms  owned  by  women,  complete  records 
were  obtained  for  37.     The  farm  income  for  the  landlord  and  the 


142  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

per  cent,  which  this  was  on  the  investments  were  figured  in  each 
case.  The  per  cent,  made  on  the  investments  varied  from  a  loss 
of  66  per  cent,  to  a  profit  of  28.6  per  cent. 

2  made  less  than 0% 

12  "  from  1%-  5% 

4  "      "  5.1%-  6% 

4  "      "  6.1%-  7% 

2  "      "  7.1%-  8% 

3  "      «  8.1%-  9% 

2  "      "  9.1%-10% 

1  "  10.60% 

1  "  11.15% 

1  "  12.91% 

1  "  13.75% 

1  "  16.78% 

1  "  20.37% 

1  "  21.42% 

1  "  28.60% 

The  average  per  cent,  made  by  the  women  landlords  was  7.84. 
All  the  landlords,  including  both  men  and  women,  made  an  aver- 
age per  cent,  on  the  investment  of  8.31. 

The  per  cent,  made  on  the  investment  is  only  half  the  story.  It 
is  interesting  to  know  just  how  much  these  women  landlords  re- 
ceived above  their  farm  expenses.  These  farm  incomes  varied 
from  a  loss  of  $42  to  a  profit  of  $936.  In  10  cases  it  was  more  than 
$500. 

SYSTEMS  OF  RENTAL. 

Only  one  of  these  37  farms  was  rented  for  half  the  crops.  Twelve 
were  rented  for  a  cash  rent;  and  in  24  cases  the  landlords  furnished 
some  of  the  stock,  usually  half  of  all  stock  except  the  horses,  and 
received  half  the  receipts,  including  those  from  both  crops  and 
stock.  The  average  per  cent,  on  the  investment  made  by  the 
landlords  who  rented  for  cash  rent  was  4.38:  that  made  by  those 
who  rented  for  half  of  the  receipts  was  9.28.  It  paid  these  land- 
lords to  help  stock  their  farms. 


AGRICULTURE  143 

WOMEN  FARMERS  v.  WOMEN  LANDLORDS. 

The  women  who  personally  managed  their  farms,  doing  more  or 
less  work,  had  a  house  to  live  in,  milk,  eggs,  butter,  meat,  vege- 
tables, wood,  etc.,  to  use  in  the  house,  and  $428  to  live  on. 

The  women  who  rented  their  farms  to  tenants  and  did  no  work 
themselves  received  from  them,  above  their  farm  expenses,  $310 
on  the  average,  without  having  farm  products  and  the  use  of  a 
house. 


GENERAL  FARMING 

JEAN  KANE  FOULKE 

The  ordinary  college  education  is  not  sufficient  to  fit  a  woman 
to  take  up  farming  as  a  profession,  unless  she  has,  in  addition, 
certain  training  which  she  can  get  only  in  one  of  two  ways, — either 
by  the  practical  experience  of  having  lived  on  a  farm  for  years 
and  having  been  an  interested  and  active  factor  in  its  work- 
ings or  by  having  taken  a  course  in  practical  general  farming  at 
one  of  our  agricultural  colleges.*  If  she  is  intending  to  special- 
ize, it  is  desirable  for  her  success  to  have  taken  the  general  course 
and  the  special  course  also.  There  is  probably  no  profession  or 
business  in  which  a  good  education,  with  the  mental  poise  and 
balance  it  gives,  is  of  more  value  than  in  farming,  and  therefore 
the  college  graduate  starts  with  a  force  within  herself  which  the 
average  woman  lacks.  But  with  all  this,  farming,  while  it  is 
possible  work  for  a  woman,  has  many  serious  and  almost  insur- 
mountable difficulties.  I  am  writing  of  general  farming,  such 
as  includes  planting  and  raising,  working  and  harvesting  crops 
of  various  kinds, — fruit,  trucking,  dairy  products,  stock-raising 
and  the  care  thereof,  and  the  management  of  machinery,  and  last, 
but  not  least,  employees.  That  there  are  many  of  these  branches 

*  The  colleges  giving  women  the  best  courses  in  agriculture  are  Cornell  Univer- 
sity, Pennsylvania  State  College,  University  of  Wisconsin,  University  of  Missouri, 
University  of  Illinois. 


144  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

in  which  women  can  specialize  successfully  is  true, — to  many  of 
them  they  are  especially  adapted;  but  to  make  any  of  them  pay 
as  a  business  (and  that  is  the  point  of  view  from  which  we  must 
regard  them),  they  must  be  run  as  branches, — possibly  the  most 
important  part  of  the  farm  work,  but  dependent  on  the  general 
farm  for  their  success, — for  any  farm  business  or  branch  of  farm- 
ing that  is  large  enough  to  produce  a  livelihood  for  its  owner 
must  have  general  farming  as  its  basis. 

Take,  for  instance,  dairy  work,  butter  and  cheese,  cream  and 
milk,  to  all  of  which  women  seem  adapted.  The  aesthetic  side 
appeals  to  us,  and  we  can  picture  the  dairy  with  its  sweet  fresh- 
ness, its  shiny  pans,  with  firm  yellow  butter  and  rich  golden 
cream, — possibly  a  trellis  over  the  door,  with  roses  and  white- 
wash, pure  and  sanitary,  with  a  cultivated,  money-making  young 
woman  in  charge.  But  this  is  the  picture  dairy,  and  except  as 
a  picture  does  not  exist, — in  reality,  the  dairy  must  be  there,  and 
so  must  the  inevitable  separator  and  other  machinery  run  by 
power.  Even  the  dear  old  churn  is  "run,"  not  turned,  and  the 
poetry  is  left  out.  But  in  either  case  we  must  come  back  to  the 
general  farm  for  our  original  supply.  The  successful  owner  of 
a  farm  dairy  must  understand  the  care  of  cattle,  breeding,  etc. 
She  must,  to  prevent  the  waste  of  her  most  valuable  by-product, 
understand  the  care  and  breeding  of  pigs.  She  must  be  able 
to  run  her  farm  so  as  to  produce  her  feeds  as  much  as  possible, — 
corn,  oats,  hay,  etc.,  etc.  The  use  of  these  various  things,  the 
filling  of  silos  and  the  feeding  of  ensilage;  the  milking,  the  clean- 
ing of  stables  and  care  of  manure, — all  this  is  fundamental  to 
the  production  of  milk  and  the  running  of  a  successful  dairy, 
and,  after  all,  comes  down  to  general  farming.  The  dairy  products 
are  only  a  most  important  branch. 

For  general  farming,  I  think,  women  are  unfitted  physically, 
and  most  women  have  not  even  the  muscle  necessary  to  under- 
take such  an  occupation.  Of  necessity  a  woman  must  depend 
upon  hired  male  labor,  and  even  more  than  a  man  must  be  de- 
pendent upon  some  man  or  men  to  such  an  extent  that  the  busi- 
ness is  largely  run  by  them  and  not  by  her.  This  is  not  because 
she  does  not  know  or  have  brains  enough  to  work  and  run  her 
farm,  but  because  she  is  of  too  frail  a  build  for  much  of  the  work 


AGRICULTURE  145 

needed.  The  labor  problem  is  the  most  difficult  one  that  any 
farmer  has  to  solve  to-day,  and  it  is  doubly  so  for  a  woman. 
It  is  almost  impossible  for  a  woman  to  get  men  who  will  obey 
her  orders,  and  even  when  she  succeeds  in  getting  a  class  of  labor 
intelligent  enough  to  understand  orders  when  given,  she  micst 
depend  on  some  one  of  inferior  intelligence  to  help  her,  as  the 
price  of  skilled  labor  would  eat  up  her  profits.  Farm  life,  more- 
over, is  a  life  of  great  exposure,  loneliness,  and  risk,  as  most 
farm  buildings  are  isolated.  It  is,  then,  a  serious  risk  to  her 
personal  safety  for  a  woman  to  go  down  to  her  barn  or  pig-pen  at 
night  to  sit  up  with  or  care  for  an  ailing  animal.  Many  times, 
too,  she  would  not  be  strong  enough  to  give  the  treatment 
needed  without  assistance,  and  if  she  calls  in  an  ordinary  farm 
laborer,  she  is  exposed  to  a  danger  too  hideous  to  contemplate. 
This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  a  farm  raising,  as  branches, 
berries  and  fruits,  vegetables,  butter  and  cheese,  squabs,  violets 
and  carnations,  or  mushrooms,  etc.,  cannot  be  successfully  run 
by  a  woman  if  the  surroundings  are  right,  for  much  of  the  labor 
in  these  occupations  is  light  and  pleasant  and  healthful.  The 
grade  of  labor  to  be  employed  here  need  not  be  of  the  common 
farm-hand  type.  A  boy  or  boys,  with  an  occasional  helping  day 
from  a  man,  would  be  all  that  would  be  needed.  If  the  prospect- 
ive farmer  is  fortunate  enough  to  have  her  family  home  on  a  farm, 
all  these  branches  may  be  open  to  her,  for  she  would  then  have 
all  the  necessary  masculine  help  at  hand  in  father  or  brother, 
husband  or  son,  whom  she  can  call  at  all  hours.  She  can  herself 
buy  and  sell,  oversee  work,  and  do  much  of  the  detail.  But  the 
woman  who  sets  out  to  farm  by  herself  must  expect  many  bitter 
moments  and  disappointments,  and  money  loss  which  she  cannot 
control.  No  woman  should  undertake  farming  as  a  profession 
who  has  not  self-control,  dignity  of  bearing,  courage,  tact,  strength 
and  health,  and  a  large  measure  of  common  sense. 


146  VOCATIONS    FOR    THE    TRAINED    WOMAN 


DAIRY  FARMING 

CHARLOTTE  BARRELL  WARE 

"  WARELANDS  ' ' 

I  wish  to  consider  dairy  farming:  first,  as  a  permanent  occu- 
pation for  women;  second,  as  a  training  for  preventive  work  in 
relation  to  public  health.  Two  classes  of  women  may  be  con- 
sidered in  relation  to  the  work: — 

A.  Those  of  ample  means,  who  work  indirectly  through  an 
efficient  agent   (usually  a  high-priced   superintendent,  who  has 
the   actual  charge   of   all    details   of  organization  and  manage- 
ment). 

B.  Those  of  moderate  means,  who  are  themselves  to  be  the 
organizers  and  managers  of  the  business. 

I.     Dairy  Farming  as  a  Permanent  Occupation. 

Most  women  in  dairy  work  to-day  are  on  farms  to  which  fam- 
ily association  and  ownership,  not  selection  because  of  fitness  for 
that  branch  of  industry,  have  brought  them.  On  such  an  in- 
herited farm  one  may  of  course  be  forced  to  make  the  best  of 
conditions  which  would  be  eliminated  in  the  choice  of  a  new  one. 
If  free  to  purchase,  one  should  consider  not  alone  the  fertility  of 
the  soil,  but  many  other  points,  such  as  transportation  facilities,, 
relation  to  the  market,  ice  supply,  etc.  In  either  case  the  de- 
termination of  the  product  for  which  individual  farm  conditions 
are  best  suited  must  be  carefully  worked  out,  remembering  always 
that  modern  farming  is  intensive,  that  it  is  the  day  of  special- 
ization, and  that  to  keep  the  output  of  one  high-grade  dairy 
product  unvaryingly  to  the  standard,  day  in  and  day  out,  with 
the  mercury  at  98  degrees  above  or  10  below  zero,  delivered  at 
the  same  hour,  morning  after  morning,  many  miles  away,  to  cus- 
tomers who  make  no  allowance  for  winter  storms  or  summer 
accidents, — is  far  more  difficult  than  is  supposed  by  the  unin- 
itiated. In  a  general  way,  milk  and  cream  may  be  recommended 


AGRICULTURE  147 

for  farms  nearer  the  market,  butter  and  cheese  for  those  at  a 
greater  distance.  For  all  these,  I  believe,  there  is  an  excellent 
opening  throughout  New  England. 

The  women  of  Group  A  may  render  valuable  service  to  a  com- 
munity by  setting  higher  standards,  making  experiments  which 
others  could  not  afford  to  make,  letting  their  farms  serve  as  an 
object-lesson  to  the  countryside,  provided  always  that  the  farm 
meets  justly  the  economic  conditions  of  the  local  market  and 
does  not  undersell  the  cost  of  production.  There  must  be  a 
"living  wage"  margin  in  the  milk  business  as  well  as  in  any 
other,  and  this  must  not  be  disregarded  by  the  wealthy  woman 
who  would  help,  rather  than  harm,  others  taking  up  the  same  oc- 
cupation. 

The  requirements  for  the  women  of  Class  B  are: — 

1.  Love  of  country  life  and  farm  work. 

2.  Great  courage   and   steadfastness   of   purpose,  which  shall 
hold  through  all  obstacles. 

3.  Good   physique.     Strength  of   body  is   frequently   needed 
to  meet  emergencies. 

4.  Capital    enough    (possession  of  farm    assumed)    to    equip 
with  modern  dairy  apparatus  and  to  carry  through  bad  seasons 
due  to  drought,  disease,  or  unexpected  cause. 

5.  Clear   appreciation  of  the   great  confinement   of   the  work 
and  readiness  to  accept  the  same  cheerfully. 

While  the  routine  of  the  work  varies  with  the  season  and  lo- 
cality, the  outline  of  a  day's  work  may  best  suggest  the  variety 
of  problems  to  be  dealt  with.  At  4.30  in  the  summer  I  am 
at  the  dairy,  ready  to  pack  or  superintend  the  packing  of  the 
milk  and  cream  of  the  previous  night's  milking,  which  leaves 
daily  at  five  o'clock.  From  five  to  seven,  cooling,  bottling, 
packing  in  ice,  ready  for  shipment,  requires  quick,  expert  work  to 
get  the  second  shipment  off,  which  carries  the  morning's  milk. 
Meanwhile  the  steam  boiler  must  have  been  looked  after,  so  that 
the  steam  pump  may  be  running  while  we  are  at  breakfast,  and 
the  steam  may  be  up  ready  for  immediate  use  after  breakfast 
for  the  forenoon's  work  at  the  dairy.  I  superintend  the  cleaning 
of  the  bottling-room,  which  includes  washing  the  cement  walls, 
ceiling,  and  floor,  and  then  going  over  all  with  live  steam.  All 


148  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

utensils  and  empty  bottles  are  then  washed  and  put  in  the  ster- 
ilizer, where,  after  a  half-hour  of  steam  at  a  high  temperature, 
they  remain  until  taken  out  for  the  afternoon's  milking. 

Leaving  the  latter  part  of  the  work  in  the  dairy  building  to 
an  assistant,  I  usually  go  off  to  the  barn  for  consultation  with 
the  herdsman  regarding  the  needs  of  individual  cows  or  supplies 
of  grain,  and  for  inspection  of  the  daily  milk  records;  then  over 
the  farm,  to  see  if  the  various  kinds  of  field  work  are  progress- 
ing satisfactorily  according  to  directions  given  the  previous  day. 

The  purchase  of  supplies  of  all  kinds  for  house,  barn,  and 
dairy,  planning  of  field  work,  attending  to  the  maintenance  and 
repair  of  equipment,  looking  after  new  construction,  records  and 
accurate  accounts  at  every  point,  which  are  of  vital  importance, 
correspondence,  occupy  the  middle  of  the  day,  and  before  one 
knows  it  it  is  again  time  to  be  in  the  dairy  for  the  four  o'clock 
afternoon  milking.  Supper  out  of  doors,  followed  by  a  quiet, 
restful  evening,  and  off  to  the  tents,  not  later  than  nine  o'clock, 
for  a  sound  night's  sleep. 

An  agricultural  college  training  is,  of  course,  the  best  prepa- 
ration for  dairy  work.  Next  to  that  would  be  a  year's  appren- 
ticeship on  a  similar  farm,  followed  by  the  short  (three  months') 
course  at  an  agricultural  college.  The  woman  who  takes  up 
this  work  after  a  general  college  course  will  find  herself  fortu- 
nate if  she  has  the  equipment  of  bacteriology  and  chemistry, 
as  well  as  physics.  While  this  is  not  a  question  of  sex,  yet  a 
woman  usually  has,  by  inheritance  and  training,  certain  personal 
equipments  which  adapt  her  especially,  it  seems  to  me,  for  dairy 
work.  It  is  simply  good  household  economics  worked  out  in 
barn  and  dairy.  Much  more  easily  will  she  find  some  one  who 
can  do  the  field  work  well,  under  her  direction,  than  one  who 
will  attend  to  the  many  essential  and  never-ending  details  of  the 
aseptic  technique,  which  she  must  master  thoroughly  at  the  be- 
ginning of  her  work  for  the  successful  handling  of  clean  milk. 
It  is  this  large  amount  of  labor  required  which  makes  the  prod- 
uct so  expensive,  the  cost  of  which  is  even  yet  very  little  real- 
ized by  the  consumer. 


AGRICULTURE  149 

II.     Clean  Milk  in  its  Relation  to  Public  Health:  the  Educational 
Aspect  of  the  Dairy  Work. 

"Clean"  milk  may  need  definition.     In  Boston  it  may  be: — 

1.  "Certified,"    which    demands,   according    to    the   standard 
fixed  by  the  Milk  Commission  of  the  Suffolk  District  Medical 
Society,  milk  containing  less  than  10,000  bacteria  per  cubic  cen- 
timetre from  a  tuberculin-tested  herd. 

2.  "Inspected,"    a    term    in   general  use  for  milk  containing 
less  than  100,000  bacteria  per  cubic  centimetre,  from  a  tuber- 
culin-tested herd. 

3.  "Clean"   enough   to    pass    the    legal    requirement    of    the 
Board  of  Health,  not  more  than  500,000  bacteria  per  cubic  cen- 
timetre ! 

At  my  own  farm  last  summer  we  began  a  simple  educational 
experiment  in  the  form  of  our  first  dairy  class,  to  study  the  meth- 
ods of  production  and  this  broader  relation  of  the  clean-milk 
work.  Lectures  and  demonstrations  were  given  on  barn  and 
dairy  construction,  sanitation,  the  herd,  care  and  feeding.  All 
members  of  the  class  had  laboratory  work  in  the  dairy,  so  that 
they  might  understand  the  details  of  washing  and  sterilizing 
utensils,  of  running  the  steam  boiler  and  separator,  of  cooling, 
bottling,  packing,  and  refrigerating  the  milk.  The  use  of  the 
Babcock  tester  for  determination  of  fat  content,  and  the  simple 
bacteriological  tests  required  to  determine  the  cleanliness  of  the 
milk,  were,  of  course,  included.  Experts  lectured  on  the  trans- 
portation and  distribution  of  the  milk  supply  of  a  large  city, 
and  the  class  visited  various  farms  supplying  the  Boston  market 
and  large  distributing  stations  where  milk  is  brought  from  long 
distances.  They  then  passed  on  to  the  study  of  the  relation  of 
clean  milk  to  public  health,  and  of  the  splendid  preventive  meas- 
ures which  are  being  developed  in  Boston  at  the  present  time  by 
hospitals,  dispensaries,  and  the  Milk  Committee  milk  stations 
for  the  distribution  of  whole  and  modified  milk,  with  their 
weekly  consultations,  and  their  education  of  the  mother  through 
visiting  nurses,  who  follow  up  individual  cases  in  the  homes. 

The  many  requests  which  have  come  to  me  this  year,  asking 
if  I  could  recommend  any  one  for  work  in  which  this  broader 


150  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

knowledge  of  the  subject  is  considered  an  influential  factor,  indi- 
cate that  there  is  an  unfilled  demand  in  this  field. 

The  personnel  of  last  year's  dairy  class  is  interesting  in  its 
bearing  upon  the  sort  of  work  with  which  this  co-ordinates.  Of 
the  six  students,  one  was  the  head  of  a  school  having  a  home- 
making  department;  another,  a  teacher  of  foods  in  a  school  of 
domestic  science;  two  were  graduates  of  a  schoo;  of  domestic 
science,  preparing  to  teach;  one,  a  trained  nurse;  and  the  sixth,  a 
graduate  of  the  School  for  Social  Workers,  who  was  taking  up  a 
special  piece  of  work  in  market  inspection. 

Along  this  line  of  inspection,  whether  of  milk  alone  or  of  other 
foods  including  milk,  as  in  the  case  just  referred  to,  there  is,  I 
believe,  large  opportunity  for  the  trained  woman  who  shall  add 
personal  tact  to  technical  training.  I  know  of  only  two  women 
who  have  taken  up  this  work,  and  both  have  shown  marked 
success. 

It  is  along  the  line  of  preventive  work,  I  believe,  that  the 
opportunity  lies  for  the  young  woman  starting  out  without  capital. 
With  the  present  high  cost  of  grain  and  hay  and  the  food  prod- 
ucts needed  for  the  farm  laborers,  one  must  consider  carefully 
before  entering,  as  an  independent  producer,  a  field  where  the 
sale  of  the  product  has  not  risen  proportionately  with  the  cost 
of  production,  and  where  the  difficulty  of  securing  efficient  helpers 
with  any  sense  of  responsibility  must  be  constant.  The  dairy 
farm  of  New  England  is  not  a  field  in  which  either  men  or  women 
are  getting  large  financial  returns,  as  far  as  I  am  able  to  judge, 
but  it  does  offer  a  most  attractive  contrast  to  the  congested  oc- 
cupations of  the  city.  It  offers  an  independence, — a  breadth  of 
life  under  more  wholesome  normal  conditions;  it  offers  a  service 
of  real  value  in  the  contribution  of  a  pure  food  product,  par- 
ticularly that  which  will  help  in  the  prevention  of  infant 
mortality. 


AGRICULTURE  151 


POULTRY  FARMING  FOR  WOMEN 

WILLIAM  P.  BROOKS 

DIRECTOR,  MASSACHUSETTS  AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIMENT  STATION 

The  amount  of  capital  required  for  a  beginning  in  poultry 
farming  is  relatively  small.  Much  of  the  work  required  is 
relatively  light,  and  success  depends  in  very  large  measure  upon 
the  possession  of  a  quick  eye  and  the  capacity  to  note  quickly 
the  presence  of  faulty  conditions  affecting  the  health  of  the  fowls. 
In  these  qualities,  woman,  with  her  long  training  in  household 
duties,  is  perhaps  likely  to  prove  superior  to  the  average  man. 
Man  is  accustomed  to  attending  to  large  affairs  in  a  wholesale 
way;  success  in  poultry  farming  demands  attention  to  many 
details.  In  poultry  farming  therefore,  superiority  in  the  di- 
rections indicated  is  likely  to  place  a  woman  on  full  equality  in 
conducting  poultry  farming  upon  a  small  or  moderate  scale, 
under  conditions  such  that  she  can  attend  to  most  of  the  work 
herself,  with  a  man.  Exceptional  women  can  succeed  also  in 
carrying  on  the  business  on  a  large  scale. 

Although  prices  vary,  poultry  farming  must  be  regarded  as, 
on  the  whole,  one  of  the  safest  branches  of  agriculture.  The 
consumptive  demand  for  table  fowls  and  eggs  is  large  and  con- 
stantly growing.  In  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  production 
of  poultry  products  equals  scarcely  one-fifth  of  the  consumption. 
There  has  been  in  the  past  little  danger  of  a  production  so  large 
as  to  carry  the  prices  below  a  profitable  limit;  and  in  view  of  the 
constantly  increasing  cost  of  the  competing  products,  such  as 
beef,  mutton,  pork,  and  milk,  it  may  be*  regarded  as  reasonably 
certain  that  prices  for  poultry  products  in  the  future  will  be  even 
better  than  in  the  past,  and  that  the  opportunities  for  profit, 
therefore,  will  be  at  least  reasonably  good. 

If  a  woman  is  to  engage  in  any  branch  of  poultry  farming,  I 
should  regard  it  as  quite  important  that  she  should  so  locate  that 
she  may  use  in  the  business  a  large  area  of  land.  This  advice 
is  based  upon  the  fact  that  with  wide  areas,  permitting  relatively 


152  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

free  range  during  a  considerable  part  of  the  year  and  thus  avoid- 
ing the  contamination  of  confined  quarters  with  the  attendant 
risk  of  disease  and  reduction  of  returns,  success  will  be  relatively 
easy.  It  is  possible  to  succeed  in  poultry  farming  with  the  fowls 
in  close  confinement,  but  it  is  far  easier  to  succeed  where  such 
confinement  is  unnecessary.  A  second  important  advantage  con- 
nected with  poultry  farming  upon  relatively  wide  areas  is  the  fact 
that  it  becomes  possible  to  produce  a  considerable  part  of  the  food 
needed,  and  I  should  anticipate  that  such  crops  as  would  be  chiefly 
needed  for  the  production  of  such  foods  might  be  raised,  even  by  a 
woman  farmer,  at  a  cost  below  that  of  purchased  food. 

I  am  inclined  to  regard  the  production  of  table  fowls,  either 
broilers  or  roasters,  and  of  eggs,  as  likely  to  be  the  most  profitable 
branches  of  poultry  farming  in  the  hands  of  a  woman. 

If  a  woman  is  to  engage  in  any  branch  of  poultry  farming,  I 
should  advise  her  first,  if  possible,  to  work  as  an  assistant  upon  a 
poultry  farm.  I  should  advise  her,  then,  to  take  both  a  good 
correspondence  course  in  poultry  farming  and  a  four  or  five  weeks' 
course  in  one  of  the  agricultural  colleges.  With  such  experience 
and  training  she  should  be  able  to  carry  on  the  business  with 
relatively  few  mistakes;  but  I  should  advise  always  that  she 
begin  in  rather  a  small  way,  increasing  the  business  only  as  it  is 
found  to  be  successful  and  thoroughly  satisfactory,  and  remem- 
bering always  that  the  difficulties  will  tend  to  increase  as  the  scale 
of  operations  is  extended. 


BEE-KEEPING     • 

JAMES  B.  PAIGE 

PROFESSOK  OF  VETERINARY  SCIENCE,  MASSACHUSETTS  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

One  of  the  agricultural  pursuits  best  adapted  for  women  seems 
to  be  that  of  bee-keeping.  The  business  can  be  made  to  yield 
a  good  money  income.  It  also  affords  an  interesting  and  fascinat- 
ing form  of  recreation  under  conditions  favorable  to  the  de- 
velopment and  maintenance  of  health,  at  a  time  of  year  when  an 
out-of-door  life  is  a  pleasure. 


AGRICULTURE  153 

In  Massachusetts  bees  require  no  attention  from  November  1 
to  March  20,  provided  they  have  been  properly  cared  for  during 
the  summer  and  early  fall.  An  apiary  of  25  or  30  colonies  would 
require  nearly  the  entire  time  of  an  amateur  from  May  15 
to  August  1.  Much  of  the  preparatory  work  for  spring  and 
summer,  such  as  the  cleaning  and  painting  of  hives,  filling  of 
brood  frames  and  sections,  may  be  done  during  the  spare  time 
of  the  winter  months. 

Apiculture  in  conjunction  with  some  other  allied  farm  opera- 
tion is  carried  on  to  better  advantage  than  when  made  a  sole 
occupation.  It  may  with  profit  be  combined  with  light  market- 
gardening,  floriculture,  or  poultry-keeping.  With  the  last  named 
it  makes  an  ideal  combination  for  women.  Bees  require  the  least 
care  at  the  time  when  poultry  need  most,  as  in  the  early  spring, 
when  hatching  operations  are  in  progress,  and  in  winter,  when 
birds  are  confined  in  houses. 

Bees  thrive  in  almost  every  locality  in  Massachusetts.  They  are 
in  some  instances  kept  with  profit  in  the  large  cities.  There  are, 
however,  some  sections  in  which  the  honey-producing  flora  is  too 
limited  to  insure  a  surplus  of  honey.  To  avoid  such  localities, 
a  careful  study  of  the  flora  should  be  made  under  the  direction 
of  an  experienced  bee-keeper. 

The  art  of  handling  bees  is  not  difficult  to  acquire.  Our  ex- 
perience in  the  bee  culture  course  at  the  college  shows  that 
women  soon  become  as  proficient  as  men  in  the  manipulation  of 
them.  After  a  little  practice  in  the  manipulation  of  gentle  bees 
one  loses  one's  fear  of  them,  and  goes  among  them,  opening  hives, 
without  a  thought  of  being  stung.  A  careful  study  of  some  one  of 
the  many  standard  works  on  bee-keeping,  together  with  a  little 
practice  with  a  single  full  colony  or  an  observation  swarm,  sup- 
plemented by  a  few  days'  experience  with  a  practical  apiarist, 
affords  all  the  training  needed  to  enable  one  to  become  sufficiently 
proficient  to  take  entire  charge  of  a  small  home  apiary.  A  prod- 
uct of  fifteen  hundred  pounds  of  first  quality  honey,  in  1908, 
from  the  apiary  of  a  New  Hampshire  woman  bee-keeper,  is  evi- 
dence of  the  success  that  is  possible  in  this  line  of  agricultural 
work,  when  intelligently  conducted  and  properly  financed. 


154  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 


MARKET-GARDENING 

H.  F.  TOMPSON 

INSTRUCTOR  IN  MARKET-GARDENING,  MASSACHUSETTS  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

Market-gardening  is  the  business  which  has  for  its  object  the 
production  of  vegetables  and  small  fruits  for  a  near-by  market. 
The  work  of  the  florist  and  market  gardener  closely  approaches 
that  of  the  manufacturer.  The  raw  materials  are  seed,  manure, 
fertilizer,  water,  sun,  and  air.  The  factory  is  the  field  or  green- 
house, and  the  finished  product  may  be  a  rose,  a  head  of  lettuce, 
or  a  bushel  of  tomatoes.  The  object  is  to  produce  so  cheaply  and 
so  well  that  financial  success  may  come  to  the  rose  or  lettuce 
grower,  florist,  or  market  gardener.  The  fact  that  there  are 
women  making  a  financial  success  of  vegetable-growing  and  forc- 
ing leaves  no  question  as  to  the  possibilities  of  the  business  for 
women.  What  kind  of  field  it  offers  is  the  important  question. 
In  deciding  this  question,  the  fitness  of  women,  as  a  class,  de- 
mands first  consideration. 

Long  hours  and  much  hard  manual  labor  have  become  char- 
acteristic factors  of  the  business  of  the  small  market  gardener. 
The  normal  income  has  not  usually  been  sufficient  to  maintain  the 
non-laboring  manager.  As  the  size  of  the  market  garden  has  in- 
creased, however,  and  the  many  details  and  plans  have  demanded 
more  attention,  the  time  and  strength  of  the  manager  have  been 
needed  for  the  planning  end  of  the  business.  Now  it  is  not 
unusual  to  find  the  manager  of  the  large  market  garden  at  his 
office  instead  of  at  work  in  the  field.  But  at  the  start  all  the 
managers  of  the  large  market  gardens  were  managers  of  small 
market  gardens,  and  their  present  position  is  the  result  of  growth 
rather  than  of  appointment.  Normally  this  should  be  so,  for 
the  business  founded  upon  successful  experience  is  the  successful 
business.  If  hard  labor,  long  hours,  and  much  experience  are 
the  essential  factors  that  bring  success  to  the  market  gardener, 
the  "lure  of  the  land'*  toward  this  business  is  a  false  call  to 
womenkind. 


AGRICULTURE  155 

We  can  safely  say,  however,  that  while  usually  very  important 
these  factors  are  not  always  essential.  Capital  may  sometimes 
offset  experience,  and  the  hard  labor  and  long  hours  are  the  co- 
partners of  experience.  It  is  possible,  and  becoming  more  and 
more  probable,  that  one  may  hire  an  experienced  man  to  super- 
intend, while  the  general  plan  may  be  laid  out  and  the  work  super- 
vised by  the  owner.  Such  a  course  requires  capital,  however, 
and  its  expediency  may  be  questioned. 

The  type  of  market-gardening  that  has  been  constantly  in 
mind,  while  writing  the  above,  is  the  general  outdoor  vegetable- 
gardening,  where  considerable  amounts  of  a  large  variety  of  out- 
door vegetables  are  raised  for  wholesale  market  or  store  trade. 
There  are  modifications  of  this  type  and  combinations  with  other 
branches  of  practical  agriculture  which  might  well  prove  pleasant 
and  profitable  to  women.  Before  considering  what  these  may  be, 
there  are  two  general  classes  of  factors  which  need  to  be  well  in 
mind  and  carefully  studied  before  one  decides  to  go  into  this  work. 
These  may  be  classed  as  the  personal  and  business  factors.  A 
short  consideration  of  the  personal  factors  will  be  worth  while 
here.  The  business  factors  are  not  essential  to  our  present  con- 
sideration. 

The  first  and  most  important  personal  factor  is  what  we  may 
call,  for  want  of  a  better  name,  a  natural  and  deep-seated  liking 
for  the  work.  A  temporary  enthusiasm  will  in  no  way  compen- 
sate for  the  love  some  people  have  for  growing  things  and  the 
work  among  them.  In  one  case,  when  the  work  becomes  hard, 
the  interest  departs:  in  the  other  the  real  liking  heightens  the 
work  and  only  makes  one  more  appreciative  of  the  final  results. 
The  other  qualities  briefly  mentioned  are:  second,  knowledge  of 
principles  and  methods  of  tillage  and  plant  culture;  third,  ability 
to  manage  labor  successfully;  fourth,  economy  in  management; 
and  fifth,  ability  to  do  business, — a  sort  of  trading  instinct.  If 
one  possesses  the  above  qualities  and  can  satisfy  the  requirements 
of  the  business  factors,  the  chances  for  success  are  good. 

The  reasons  why  the  market-gardening  business  near  a  large 
centre,  if  conducted  along  the  usual  lines,  would  not  be  the  best 
opportunity  for  women,  have  been  sufficiently  discussed  above. 
There  are,  however,  many  opportunities  for  a  special  and  select 


156  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

trade,  largely  from  house  to  house,  where  well-grown  and  well- 
packed  vegetables,  small  fruits,  and  poultry  products  are  welcome 
visitors.  These  places  are  more  often  found  in  the  city  than  else- 
where, for  it  is  here  that  the  natural  craving  for  such  food  is 
greatest  and  where  the  supply  is  lowest.  The  successful  estab- 
lishment of  this  sort  of  business  depends  almost  entirely  upon 
the  ability  and  enterprise  of  the  manager. 

Another  field,  still  neglected,  is  the  small  town  where  some 
of  the  products  of  the  market  garden  are  almost  unknown, — as 
lettuce,  egg  plant,  salsify,  and  many  other  delicious  and  easily 
grown  vegetables.  Often  too,  in  these  same  small  towns  or 
villages  there  is  a  demand  for  cut  flowers  and  potted  plants, 
supplied  only  by  the  occasional  visit  of  the  plant  peddler  or  by  city 
dealers.  In  the  latter  case  the  flowers  or  plants  have  to  travel 
through  many  hands,  this  all  adding  to  the  expense  and  usually 
lessening  the  quality.  The  growing  of  vegetable  plants  for  sale 
naturally  unites  with  these  two  fields  of  work.  The  equipment 
for  such  a  business  would  naturally  include  some  "glass,"  a  small 
greenhouse  and  some  "frames." 

To  do  any  such  work  as  above  indicated,  a  person  needs  not 
only  a  strong  natural  liking  for  the  work,  but  thorough  training. 
This  can  be  partially  obtained  at  the  summer  schools  or  winter 
courses  now  offered  by  most  of  the  agricultural  colleges.  A  part 
of  the  training  should  come  through  actual  experience,  and  each 
individual  must  needs  discover  his  or  her  own  opportunity  for  this. 

Some  capital  is  needed.  A  place  must  be  rented  or  bought, 
tools,  horses,  forcing  material,  and  so  forth  obtained.  It  would 
not  be  wise  for  a  person  having  less  than  $2,000  to  undertake  any 
such  proposition,  and  then  very  careful  consideration  and  con- 
servative judgment  are  needed  before  one  embarks  on  this  new 
enterprise. 

The  income  depends  almost  entirely  upon  the  individual,  of 
course,  within  certain  limits.  It  is  seldom  that  one  could  lay 
away  more  than  $1,000  from  the  year's  earnings,  and  more 
often  less  than  this,  even  when  the  business  may  be  considered 
quite  successful.  The  compensation  from  congenial  surroundings 
and  pleasing  work  must  be  part  pay  for  those  undertaking  such 
work. 


AGRICULTURE  157 


MARKET-GARDENING  * 

PERSIS  BARTHOLOMEW 

WESTBORO,  MASSACHUSETTS 

To  grow  high-grade  products  demands  training  and  experience. 
One  must  learn  how  to  produce  greater  and  better  crops  at  the 
least  possible  cost;  to  this  end  one  must  study  the  soil  and  the 
plant.  This  knowledge  can  best  be  obtained  from  a  four  years' 
course  in  an  agricultural  college.  But  it  is  also  necessary  for  a 
woman  who  is  thinking  of  entering  into  market-gardening  to  have 
good  business  sense,  to  be  a  skilled  manager  and  planner  and  a 
good  seller.  Education  will  not  suffice  to  make  her  such;  she 
must  have  personal  experience. 

I  am  myself  a  novice  at  market-gardening,  but  in  the  two  years 
since  my  graduation  from  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  Col- 
lege, my  work  of  planning,  planting,  harvesting,  and  selling  of 
farm  vegetables,  has  been  most  enjoyable  to  me  and  somewhat  of 
a  success.  I  desired  originally  to  take  up  floriculture,  but  that 
was  too  expensive,  as  glass  houses  were  necessary.  Poultry-rais- 
ing required  too  close  figuring.  Dairying,  stock-raising,  orchard- 
ing, were  not  advisable  for  a  woman  of  small  means.  Market- 
garden  crops  and  small  fruits  appealed  to  me  as  the  most  possible 
venture.  Although  heavy  work  is  involved,  all  this  may  be  avoided 
by  hiring  labor,  exercising  great  care  that  not  too  much  money 
is  spent  unnecessarily. 

One  of  the  most  common  mistakes  is  going  into  farming  on  too 
large  a  scale  before  the  business  is  learned.  I  rented  a  farm  of 
10  acres  with  the  prospect  of  buying,  and  planted  3  acres  with 
vegetables  and  small  fruits,  such  as  strawberries  and  currants. 
The  10  acres  included  some  hay  land  and  an  orchard  of  50  apple- 
trees,  but  these  I  did  not  pay  any  attention  to  the  first  year. 

I  had  a  very  limited  amount  to  begin  on,  just  $200.     With 

*  This  article  is  published  as  an  illustration  of  what  young  women  are  actually 
attempting  to-day,  with  and  without  the  help  of  male  relatives.  The  experi- 
mental stage  of  the  work  here  described  is  evident  to  both  writer  and  reader. — ED. 


158  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

this  I  bought  fertilizer,  manure,  seeds,  and  paid  for  the  labor  of 
ploughing,  harrowing,  and  cultivating  through  the  first  season. 
All  the  harvesting  and  selling  I  did  myself.  But  I  have  one  great 
advantage,  as  I  have  my  father  working  with  me.  My  greatest 
difficulty  was  the  selling  of  the  vegetables.  This  I  conquered 
the  second  summer.  I  sent  a  team  into  Worcester  market  once 
a  week  regularly,  sometimes  twice,  on  Tuesdays  and  Fridays. 
At  first  I  took  a  stand  on  the  square,  and  sold  to  peddlers;  but 
when  commission  houses  offered  a  good  price  for  my  produce, 
I  let  them  have  it,  feeling  it  might  be  a  gain  in  two  ways.  First, 
it  was  less  trouble,  and  gave  me  as  much  money;  and  second, 
the  commission  houses  would  come  to  know  me,  and  in  that  way 
would  do  better  by  me,  and  I  could  see  my  products  in  compari- 
son with  those  of  larger  growers. 

The  products  I  raised  last  year,  arranged  in  the  order  of  their 
money-making  value  to  me,  were  tomatoes,  string  beans,  shell 
beans,  squash,  cabbage,  lettuce  (a  specialty  of  mine),  peas,  straw- 
berries, and  sweet  corn. 

The  first  year  I  did  not  pay  my  expenses.  The  second  year  I 
bought  a  horse,  a  plough,  cultivator,  seeder,  fertilizer,  and  seeds. 
This  was  last  summer,  and  I  may  say  that  my  farm  has  no  debt. 
The  coming  summer  I  am  planning  to  increase  the  number  of 
acres  of  cultivation  to  five,  and  put  labor,  time,  and  money  on 
improving  the  orchard.  I  look  forward  to  a  successful  year. 


FLORICULTURE 

E.  A.  WHITE 

PROFESSOR  OF  FLORICULTURE,   MASSACHUSETTS   AGRICULTURAL   COLLEGE 

Floriculture  offers  excellent  opportunities  for  women,  and  there 
are  several  successfully  engaged  in  the  business  in  Massachusetts. 
There  are  three  phases  of  the  subject  which  should  be  considered : — 

First.  The  woman  as  owner  and  manager  of  the  floricultural 
establishment. 

Second.    The  woman  as  an  employee. 


AGRICULTURE  159 

Third.  The  woman  as  manager  of  a  retail  establishment  or 
store. 

If  the  woman  has  a  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  principles  in- 
volved in  plant-growing,  has  good  executive  ability,  and  a  moder- 
ate amount  of  capital,  there  are  good  openings  in  the  florist  Busi- 
ness. Several  have  taken  up  the  work  with  excellent  results. 
My  attention  was  recently  called  to  an  instance  of  this  kind.  A 
graduate  of  the  musical  course  at  Wellesley  College  failed  in 
health,  and  feeling  obliged  to  take  up  some  remunerative  work, 
built  a  small  greenhouse  in  one  of  the  suburban  towns  near  Boston. 
She  is  now  carrying  on  an  excellent  business  in  growing  flowers  and 
potted  plants  for  local  trade.  Recently  I  have  visited  several 
greenhouses  where  the  wife  was  attending  to  the  ventilation  of 
the  houses  and  the  general  care  of  the  crops,  while  the  husband 
was  employed  in  other  work  away  from  home. 

The  best  preparation  a  woman  could  get  for  work  of  this  kind 
would  be  to  take  a  short  course  in  floriculture  at  some  educa- 
tional institution,  or  to  work  for  a  time  in  some  first-class  estab- 
lishment where  the  special  crops  are  grown  in  which  she  is  espe- 
cially interested.  In  one  year  of  this  kind  of  work  one  could 
obtain  a  great  deal  of  information,  both  valuable  and  practical. 

I  doubt  if  there  will  ever  be  many  desirable  openings  for  women 
of  the  average  class  as  employees  in  greenhouses.  There  are  a 
few  large  rose  and  carnation  establishments  which  employ  women 
of  foreign  birth  to  disbud  the  carnations  or  pick  up  dead  leaves 
from  the  rose-houses,  but  most  owners  and  managers  prefer  to 
employ  men.  A  few  women,  however,  find  employment  at  good 
wages  in  the  packing  and  shipping  rooms  of  wholesale  establish- 
ments. A  few  women  are  also  employed  as  stenographers  in 
these  establishments. 

It  would  seem  as  if  the  best  openings  for  women  were  in  retail 
stores.  As  a  rule,  customers  in  these  stores  prefer  to  deal  with 
a  woman  clerk,  and  usually  these  clerks  have  excellent  taste  in 
the  arrangement  of  flowers.  Several  large  flower  stores  in  Mas- 
sachusetts are  owned  by  women,  and  these  are  successful  finan- 
cially. Some  capital  is  of  course  necessary  if  one  is  to  open  a 
store  of  this  kind,  for  as  in  flower-growing  the  expense  of  equip- 
ment is  considerable.  The  show  windows  must  be  large  and 


160  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

attractive,  there  must  be  abundant  ice-box  facilities,  and  the 
interior  wall  decoration  should  be  pleasing.  The  perishable  nat- 
ure of  the  product  handled  also  necessitates  considerable  capital. 


SMALL-FRUIT  GROWING 

F.   C.   SEARS 

PROFESSOR  OF  POMOLOGY,  MASSACHUSETTS  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

It  would  seem  to  the  writer  that  this  is  a  line  of  outdoor  work 
peculiarly  adapted  to  women.  There  is  no  really  heavy  labor 
connected  with  any  part  of  it,  all  that  is  required  being  deft- 
ness, skill  in  handling,  and  patience  in  attending  to  details,  which 
are  all  qualities  more  likely  to  be  possessed  by  women  than  by 
men.  And  if  a  woman  has  a  love  of  outdoor  work  to  start 
with,  I  see  no  reason  whatever  why  she  should  not  make  a  suc- 
cess in  growing  small  fruits. 

As  to  the  demand  for  such  fruits,  any  one  who  has  studied  the 
local  market  in  our  American  towns  and  villages  cannot  have 
overlooked  the  fact  that  they  are  usually  very  scantily  supplied 
with  all  the  different  kinds  of  small  fruits.  Apparently,  the  nearer 
one  gets  to  the  source  of  supply,  the  more  difficult  it  is  to  get 
good  fruits  of  all  kinds,  but  especially  the  small  fruits.  The  town 
market  is  poorer  than  that  of  the  city,  and  the  village  than  that  of 
the  town.  This  means  that  there  are  almost  numberless  chances 
to  make  a  good  thing  out  of  supplying  this  deficiency,  and  it  is 
surprising  how  small  a  piece  of  land  will  return  a  good  living,  and 
something  more,  if  handled  properly.  Accurate  statistics  are 
difficult  to  get,  but  5,000  quarts  per  acre  for  strawberries  and  cur- 
rants, 3,000  for  blackberries,  and  somewhat  over  2,000  for  red 
raspberries  are  reasonable  yields.  Prices  vary  greatly,  of  course, 
depending  on  whether  one  has  a  good  local  market  or  sends  the 
fruit  to  some  commission  man.  The  expense  of  working  a  small- 
fruit  plantation  should  not  be  over  $125  to  $150  per  acre;  and 
even  if  the  product  is  wholesaled  to  the  commission  man,  this 
would  give  a  good  margin  of  profit. 


AGRICULTURE  161 


LANDSCAPE  GARDENING 

BEATRIX  JONES 

FELLOW  OF  THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  LANDSCAPE  ARCHITECTS 

Within  the  last  few  years  landscape  gardening  has  been  much 
talked  of  as  an  agreeable  profession  for  women,  and  an  increasing 
number  of  them  have  been  studying  and  starting  professional 
work. 

It  is  a  profession  which  no  woman  should  attempt  who  is  not 
above,  rather  than  below,  the  average  of  physical  strength  and 
endurance,  as  the  work  swings  from  one  extreme  to  another, 
sometimes  meaning  eight  hours  or  more  office  work, — making 
plans,  drawing  up  specifications,  and  draughting, — and  this  con- 
tinued for  several  days,  followed  by  the  entire  change  which  field 
work  means.  This  not  infrequently  involves  a  week's  continu- 
ous work,  in  which  the  average  day,  including  time  spent  in  travel- 
ling, is  twelve  hours  or  over.  The  engagements  for  field  work 
must  sometimes  be  made  weeks  ahead  in  the  busy  season,  and 
must  be  kept  irrespective  of  weather  or  bodily  condition,  for  the 
reason  that  in  such  work  the  meeting  must  be  carefully  arranged 
beforehand,  in  order  to  be  adjusted  to  the  engagements  of  the 
client,  the  contractor,  the  engineer,  and  the  landscape  gardener. 

No  one  should  attempt  the  profession  who  has  not,  by  nature, 
a  quality  which  corresponds  to  the  musician's  ear  for  music;  that 
is,  the  power  to  perceive  and  assimilate  the  characteristics  of 
landscape.  In  other  words,  no  one  can  be  a  landscape  gardener 
who  has  not  an  eye,  any  more  than  a  musician  can  be  made  from 
a  person  who  has  no  ear.  This  means  the  appreciation  of  the 
texture  as  well  as  the  color  of  the  landscape,  the  peculiar  quality 
of  each  individual  place  and  its  adaptation  to  specific  treatment; 
for  it  cannot  be  too  strongly  borne  in  mind  that  landscape  gar- 
dening is  the  profession  of  a  painter  built  on  the  substructure 
of  that  of  an  engineer. 

If,  after  consideration,  a  young  woman  decides  that  she  wishes 
to  become  a  landscape  gardener,  at  least  four  years  of  study 


162  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

should  follow  this  determination.  Proper  training  involves  a  study 
of  the  architectural  orders,  mechanical  and  free-hand  drawing, 
some  theoretical  engineering,  and  the  necessary  mathematics  and 
courses  in  designing.  The  Lowthorpe  School  at  Groton,  Mass.,. 
offers  a  two  years'  course  at  the  cost  of  $100  a  year  for  tuition 
and  a  minimum  price  of  $40  a  month  for  board  and  lodging. 
The  time,  however,  seems  short  for  adequate  preparation. 
There  is  a  course  at  Cornell  University  also  open  to  women. 
The  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  in  Boston  offers  a 
graduate  course  which  includes  work  at  the  Arnold  Arboretum. 
All  these  various  methods  of  study  should  be  supplemented  by 
a  journey  to  Europe,  as  essential  to  the  landscape  gardener  as 
it  is  to  the  architect,  and  for  the  same  reason, — that  it  tends  to 
form  and  educate  the  eye  and  train  it  to  perceive  what  has 
been  done  with  the  opportunity  given.  At  present  the  work  of 
women  in  the  profession  consists  almost  entirely  of  what  may  be 
called  the  domestic  branch.  By  this  are  meant  the  laying  out 
and  management  of  private  places  as  opposed  to  public  parks, 
land  developments,  or  town  planning. 

The  landscape  gardener's  equipment  must  consist  of  a  sufficient 
knowledge  of  engineering  to  read  and  comprehend  a  survey  and 
to  detect  any  errors,  which  means,  of  course,  the  capability  to 
make  a  survey,  however  halting  and  laborious  the  effort.  The 
drainage  of  land  must  be  well  understood,  as  well  as  the  various 
methods  of  road  construction,  and  one  must  be  able  to  calculate 
the  grading  of  cross-sections  and  the  quantity  of  soil  to  be  re- 
moved. In  the  architectural  department  the  landscape  gardener 
must  know  enough  of  construction  to  build  proper  retaining  walls 
and  terraces,  balustrades,  steps,  summer  houses,  etc.,  suited  to  the 
architecture  of  the  house  and  the  general  character  of  the  country. 

The  technique  of  the  planting  is  one  of  the  most  important 
parts  of  the  landscape  gardener's  education,  and  here  the  in- 
stinctive appreciation  of  the  appropriate  cannot  be  dispensed  with. 
A  wide  familiarity  with  the  growth,  needs,  and  expression  of  the 
trees,  shrubs,  and  herbs,  is  required  to  give  the  landscape  artist 
the  palette  which  is  needed  to  paint  the  open-air  picture.  As 
landscape  gardening  is  an  exact  profession,  no  mental  slovenliness 
can  be  tolerated;  specifications  must  be  accurately  made  outr 


AGRICULTURE  163 

plant  names  properly  spelled,  and  the  necessarily  complicated  ac- 
counts carefully  kept. 

As  the  number  of  women  in  the  profession  is  yearly  increasing, 
the  start  becomes  accordingly  difficult,  and  three  or  four  years  or 
more  are  often  needed  before  the  young  landscape  gardener  can 
count  on  clearing  more  than  a  few  hundreds  a  year,  usually  less 
than  $1,000;  she  will  be  very  fortunate  if,  after  ten  years,  her 
fees  amount  to  more  than  $3,000.  The  profession  is  not  for 
those  who  must  count  on  a  steady  and  increasing  income,  since 
it  is  peculiarly  dependent  on  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  and 
is  almost  entirely  a  profession  of  luxury. 


THE  PROFESSION  OF  FORESTRY 
MIRA  L.  DOCK 

MEMBER  OF  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  STATE  FORESTRY  RESERVATION  COMMISSION 

CHARACTER  AND  SCOPE  OF  WORK. 

Modern  forestry,  however  its  practice  may  vary  in  details 
in  different  lands,  is  based  upon  a  few  fundamental  principles 
recognized  throughout  the  world  as  of  primary  importance;  viz., 
protection,  management,  silviculture,  and  utilization.  Within 
little  more  than  a  century  the  practice  of  forestry  has  developed 
into  a  definite  program,  having  among  its  direct  objects: — 

(a)  The  protection  and  production  of  timber  upon  all  land  not 
adapted  to  agriculture,  or  where  the  character  of  the  country 
requires  a  permanent  forest  cover  to  prevent  erosion. 

(6)  The  management  of  woodlands  with  a  view  to  the  per- 
petuation of  the  most  valuable  species,  accompanied  by  a  main- 
tenance or  increase  of  soil  fertility.  Among  the  indirect  results 
obtained  are  the  economic  gains  of  stream  protection,  soil  con- 
servation, and  good  roads,  and  the  hygienic  benefits  of  the  close 
proximity  of  large  tracts  of  forest  to  villages,  towns,  and  cities, 
affording  opportunity  for  outings  at  little  or  no  expense  and  for 
the  establishment  of  innumerable  forest  resorts  in  the  midst 
of  romantic  scenery.  The  preservation  of  beautiful  places  is 


164  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

also  assured  in  a  sane  system  of  forest  management,  through  a 
combination  of  economic  and  patriotic  motives. 

TRAINING  IN  FORESTRY. 

Training  in  forestry  is  a  special  combination  of  arduous  field 
work  with  many  of  the  branches  common  to  schools  of  engineer- 
ing. The  theoretical  and  practical  training  includes  the  higher 
mathematics;  surveying  (a  great  deal  of  surveying  in  certain 
schools);  biological  work,  both  field  and  laboratory;  at  least 
one  foreign  language,  usually  German;  road-making;  bridge- 
building;  tree-felling;  nursery  work;  forest-planting;  improve- 
ment work  in  the  forest;  and  other  branches  incidental  to  and  im- 
portant in  forestry.  In  the  federal  service  heliographing  is 
practised.  In  one  very  practical  school  the  students  take  entire 
charge  of  their  own  horses;  a  forester  must  be  a  trained  horse- 
man. 

CHARACTER,  KIND,  AND  COST  OF  TRAINING. 

There  are  at  present  three  main  forms  of  forestry  instruction 
in  the  United  States  (1910). 

1.  Graduate  courses  only,  as  at  Yale  and  Harvard. 

The  course  at  Yale  is  the  oldest  established,  and  may  best  serve 
as  guide.  It  covers  two  years,  and  with  the  utmost  economy  can- 
not be  taken  under  $600  per  annum. 

There  have  been  women  students  in  attendance  at  the  Summer 
School,  Milford,  Pa.,  for  the  purpose  of  dendrological  and  other 
work,  but  this  course  in  full  has  not  been  taken  except  by  men. 

2.  State  colleges  and  universities  with  courses  in,  or  schools 
of,  forestry. 

Among  the  best  known  in  the  East  is  State  College,  Pa.;  in 
the  Central  West  are  the  University  of  Michigan,  the  Michigan 
Agricultural  College,  and  the  University  of  Minnesota;  in  the 
Far  West,  the  University  of  Washington. 

At  all  land-grant  colleges  and  universities  tuition  is  free  to  actual 
students  of  the  State,  irrespective  of  sex.  An  entrance  fee  is 
required  from  non-residents.  The  length  of  course  would  de- 
pend upon  the  institution,  and  also  upon  whether  only  graduate 
work  is  taken,  which  requires  in  no  case  less  than  two  years. 


AGRICULTURE  165 

The  cost  would  be  that  usual  to  such  institutions,  and  would  in- 
clude laboratory  fees,  board,  lodging,  and  travelling  expenses,  the 
last  three  at  the  student's  discretion. 

3a.  Private  and  special  schools.  At  Biltmore,  N.C.,  the  most 
important  and  longest-established  private  school,  the  course  covers 
one  unbroken  year,  of  which  the  larger  portion  consists  of  field 
work  at  different  points,  in  different  States,  with  several  months 
in  Germany.  The  cost  would  not  be  less  than  $1,100.  Of  this 
$300  is  for  tuition  fees,  and  about  $800  for  travelling,  board, 
and  incidental  expenses. 

3b.  Schools  of  special  purpose,  such  as  the  Pennsylvania 
Forest  Academy  at  Mont  Alto,  would  not  be  considered  in  this 
paper,  save  for  the  number  of  applications  for  information.  This 
school  was  established  by  act  of  legislature,  to  enable  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Department  of  Forestry  to  train,  at  State  expense,  a  defi- 
nitely limited  number  of  men  for  three  years  each,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  serving  as  foresters  upon  the  large  forest  reservations  of 
the  State.  Both  mental  and  physical  entrance  examinations  are 
required,  and  but  ten  men  annually  are  admitted,  who  not  only 
enter  bonds  for  their  period  of  instruction,  but  renew  them  upon 
graduation  for  three  years  more,  at  the  close  of  which  they  are 
free  to  seek  engagements  elsewhere.  As  yet  all  have  continued 
in  the  State  Forest  Service. 

NUMBER  AND  KINDS  OF  OPENINGS. 

1.  Forestry  as  a  profession  for  women  who  are  or  who  expect 
to  be  entirely  self-supporting  cannot  now,  perhaps  can  never  be, 
recommended  as  a  "gainful  occupation."  In  its  full  practice 
it  has  always  been,  probably  will  remain,  a  man's  occupation. 
Two  duties  alone  render  it  inadvisable  for  women;  viz.,  fire-fight- 
ing and  the  possession  of  police  powers.  Foresters  of  large  re- 
sponsibility are  required  to  understand  the  management  of  em- 
ployees as  well  as  of  woodlands;  of  camps,  horses,  and  road- 
building;  of  lumbering,  machinery,  and  saw-milling;  in  short,  of 
all  matters  incidental  to  the  woods-work  of  a  practical  forester, 
in  addition  to  the  office  work  of  an  indoor  profession.  The  world 
over  forestry  is  more  largely  a  governmental  than  a  private  em- 
ployment. In  this  country  most  States  employing  foresters 


166  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

require  a  course  in  some  accredited  school.  In  the  federal  ser- 
vice not  only  is  a  forestry  course  required,  but  also  a  civil  service 
examination.  Women  engaged  in  other  than  clerical  capacity 
in  the  federal  service,  as  in  microscopy  and  dendrology,  must 
also  pass  a  civil  service  examination,  and  are  not  eligible  for 
field  work. 

2.  Certain  of  the  less  developed  branches  of  protection  and 
silviculture  offer  fields  for  investigation  and  for  original   work 
for  women,  as  in  entomology,  dendrology,  mycology,  and  also  in 
nursery  work,  which  will  ultimately  open  lines  of  remunerative 
occupation,  but  which  at  present  cannot  be  advised  as  actual 
opportunities  for  those  who  are  hampered  by  anxiety  in  regard  to 
their  immediate  future. 

3.  All  women  who  are  land-owners  or  who  intend  to  engage  in 
landscape  gardening,  horticulture,  or  agriculture,  are  earnestly 
advised  to  take  at  least  a  year's  work  in  branches  of  silviculture 
and  protection. 

Until  land-owners  in  large  numbers  learn  and  put  into  prac- 
tice some  of  the  elementary  principles  of  soil  improvement,  of 
woodland  protection  and  management,  we  shall  continue,  in 
spite  of  some  good  examples  conspicuous  by  their  small  number, 
to  present  the  uninspiring  spectacle  of  criminal  indifference  to 
fire,  and  of  economic  stupidity  in  the  inevitable  replacement  of 
valuable  by  worthless  species  of  trees  in  our  present  system  of 
non-management  of  woodlands. 

CONCLUSION. 

In  presenting  an  adverse  recommendation  of  forestry  as  a 
profession  for  women,  the  writer  has  in  view  women  who  must 
either  look  first  to  remuneration  for  their  work,  or  to  employ- 
ment first  with  remuneration  as  a  secondary  object,  and  it  cannot 
be  stated  too  clearly  that  at  present  there  seems  to  be  no  opening 
of  either  kind  for  women  in  forestry.  There  is  a  tendency  on  tne 
part  of  many  uninformed  persons  to  suggest  to  women  of  uncer- 
tain health  and  defective  education,  unable  to  cope  with  the  re- 
quirements of  any  profession,  that  they  "take  up  forestry,  it 
would  be  so  pleasant  to  live  out  of  doors."  Such  advice  partakes 
of  the  nature  of  an  hallucination. 


AGRICULTURE  167 

While  the  writer  offers  the  above  advice,  she  is  well  aware  that 
at  this  very  hour  there  may  be  some  woman  qualifying  herself 
in  all  branches  of  forestry  for  its  full  practice  who  will  display 
such  initiative  and  such  resourcefulness  that  her  name  will  rank 
in  forestral  history  along  with  those  of  Hartig,  Bremontier,  and 
Brandis.  The  exceptional  woman  has  never  required  advice, 
and  creates  her  own  opportunity. 


V 
BUSINESS 


ADVERTISING   FROM    THE    POINT    OF    VIEW    OF   A 
MANUFACTURER 

The  popular  prejudice  against  advertising  in  any  and  every 
phase  is  undoubtedly  based  upon  its  expression  in  the  worst 
forms,  which  are  at  the  same  time  the  most  striking.  Millions 
of  dollars  are  spent  yearly  on  printer's  ink,  and  since  a  very  large 
proportion  of  this  capital  goes  into  words  and  colors  that  are 
not  only  shocking  to  the  eye,  but  definitely  harmful  to  the  read- 
ing and  seeing  public,  there  is  unquestionably  a  field  for  serious 
work  in  promoting  sales  along  legitimate  lines,  in  a  way  which  is 
progressive  and  actually  instructive  to  the  buyer.  That  this 
field  is  practically  unexplored  by  an  intelligent,  well-educated  class 
of  persons,  I  am  certain.  As  a  manufacturer  of  paints,  I  am 
thoroughly  interested  in  all  propositions  for  increasing  my  busi- 
ness. I  am  visited  daily,  almost  hourly,  by  advertising  agents 
who  wish  to  "manage  my  campaign."  I  prefer  to  direct  my  own 
warfare,  but  I  need  able,  intelligent  assistants  who  will  study  my 
interests  in  presenting  my  paint  to  the  public.  Just  here,  I 
believe,  a  great  opportunity  is  offered  to  the  college-bred  woman 
who  does  not  care  for  teaching.  In  twelve  years  I  have  had  just 
one  application  from  a  woman  for  this  class  of  work.  At  least 
five  hundred  applications  come  every  year  for  clerical  work,  even 
typewriting  and  duplicating. 

Perhaps  I  can  best  explain  the  nature  of  this  advertising,  the  nec- 
essary qualifications,  and  the  benefit  to  be  gained,  by  giving  a  brief 
sketch  of  the  work  of  my  single  applicant,  who,  by  the  way,  was  the 
subject  of  adverse  circumstances  and  hardly  a  fair  example. 

Miss was  a  young  woman  about  twenty-seven,  of  only 

average  intelligence  and  without  a  decided  bent  in  any  direction. 

168 


BUSINESS  169 

She  was  in  ill-health  and  needed  something  to  do, — anything 
would  answer.  I  decided  to  try  her  in  the  sales  department  of 
my  white  lead  factory,  and  gave  her  a  certain  amount  of  adver- 
tising. I  explained  to  her  the  three  classes  of  customers  with 
whom  she  must  deal, — house  painters,  dealers,  and  consumers, 
covering  every  social  class  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest.  It 
was  her  duty  to  interest  these  people  in  any  way  she  might  choose. 

Her  first  step  was  to  go  into  my  factory  and  study  her  product. 
An  enthusiastic  student  of  chemistry,  she  found  the  analyses 
a  delight.  She  then  read  all  she  could  find  on  the  practical  side 
of  the  paint  question. 

Her  next  move  was  to  write  letters  to  the  painters  on  her  trade 
list.  She  explained  the  merits  of  her  process  of  grinding  white 
lead,  the  value  of  inert  pigments  in  resisting  chemical  action. 
Her  painters  did  not  respond  except  occasionally  to  ask  whether 
this  white  lead  could  be  thinned  with  fish  oil  without  spoiling 
a  job  and  whether  she  had  anything  cheaper  to  offer.  These 
first  replies  put  her  in  touch  with  her  customers,  and  from  that 
time  the  process  of  development  was  interesting.  The  whole 
scheme  was  reduced  to  a  psychological  basis  in  which  she  studied 
her  different  types,  property  owners,  painters,  dealers,  preparing 
the  reading  matter  and  colors  which  would  appeal  to  each.  It 
was  her  privilege  to  place  orders  for  such  circular  matter  and 
color  cards  as  she  wished,  choosing  paper  stock,  colors  of  ink, 
styles  of  type,  etc.,  arranging  the  chips  on  color  cards  according 
to  her  own  taste.  She  composed  all  text  and  directed  her  of- 
fice corps  as  to  the  class  of  trade  which  should  receive  each  form. 
The  number  and  nature  of  replies  determined  the  value  of  her 
work,  and  by  quickly  disclosing  any  flaws  furnished  the  only 
training  necessary  to  enable  her  to  continue  her  work  with  in- 
creasing success. 

By  following  her  own  schemes  in  a  thoroughly  systematic  way, 
she  made  herself  valuable  to  me.  At  her  own  suggestion  she 
started  with  a  salary  of  $7  a  week,  giving  only  a  portion  of  her 
time.  In  less  than  three  years  she  has  advanced  to  $20.  She 
refused  a  further  increase,  preferring  less  work. 

In  a  general  way,  I  might  say  that  this  class  of  work,  if  efficient, 
demands  a  generous  remuneration  for  the  time  and  energy  ex- 


170  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

pended.  The  manufacturer  becomes  more  dependent  upon  his 
advertising  agent  than  upon  his  salesmen.  In  any  line  he  can 
well  afford  to  pay  10  per  cent,  of  the  business  produced.  The 
majority  allow  from  12^/2  to  15  per  cent.  A  salary  of  $1,000  is 
therefore  due  for  every  $8,000  created.  Advertising  agencies 
pay  salaries  ranging  from  $25  a  week  up  for  classified  work, 
such  as  designing,  drawing,  composing,  but  the  proprietors  of 
these  agencies  reap  large  profits,  which  must  be  paid  either  by 
the  manufacturer  or  by  his  customer. 

Granted  that  conviction  in  the  mind  of  the  seller  plays  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  sale  of  a  product  and  that  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  the  product  is  an  advantage  to  the  advertiser,  it  stands 
to  reason  that  my  own  agent  can  serve  me  better  than  the  man  who 
is  promoting  paint,  wall  paper,  soap,  breakfast  foods,  shoe  polish, 
motor  cars,  and  a  score  of  other  commodities  at  the  same  time. 
Moreover,  the  agency  never  sees  the  direct  results  of  its  work 
and  cannot  maintain  an  equal  interest  with  the  one  directly  re- 
sponsible. That  I  am  voicing  the  opinion  of  many  manufacturers, 
I  know  from  personal  conversation.  My  friend,  Mr.  W.,  of  the 

Varnish  Works,  has  been  looking  in  vain  for  a  clever  young 

woman  who  can  assume  the  responsibility  of  his  sales  department. 
The  small  State  of  Connecticut  has  2,023  manufacturing  con- 
cerns. After  examining  the  list,  I  am  satisfied  that  50  per  cent, 
of  these  concerns  are  in  a  position  to  employ  an  advertising 
manager.  This  would  furnish  positions  for  more  than  1,000  in 
a  single  State.  If  college  women  would  undertake  the  work,  I 
believe  the  benefit  to  business  and  to  the  buying  public  would  be 
a  revelation. 


ADVERTISING  FROM  THE   POINT    OF  VIEW    OF    AN 
ADVERTISING   MANAGER 

For  over  five  years  I  have  been  in  charge  of  the  advertising 
of  a  large  manufacturing  company.  I  undertook  the  work  with- 
out previous  experience  and  with  no  special  training  for  it.  The 
circumstances  leading  to  it  were  as  follows: — 

I  was  a  high-school  teacher  for  ten  years,  and  during  the  last 


BUSINESS  171 

year  of  my  teaching  was  asked  by  a  friend,  a  wholesale  manu- 
facturer and  jobber  who  was  much  interested  in  advertising  and 
a  firm  believer  in  it,  to  get  out  for  him  a  quarterly  trade  paper. 
My  work  on  the  paper  under  his  tutelage  was  my  only  training 
for  the  profession.  As  he  is  a  man  of  keen  advertising  sense,  a 
relentless  critic,  the  school  was  a  good  one. 

When  the  company  now  employing  me  lost  their  advertising 
man,  my  tutor,  without  my  knowledge,  interested  them  in  me 
through  an  article  I  had  written  for  his  paper.  When  the  sub- 
ject was  first  broached,  I  refused  to  consider  it.  I  enjoyed  teach- 
ing, and  was  loath  to  give  up  the  leisure  it  afforded  for  the  pecu- 
niary advantages  of  a  business  life.  Besides,  I  had  very  grave 
doubts  as  to  my  ability  to  fill  the  position.  My  objections 
finally  gave  way,  and  I  agreed  to  go,  my  work  to  be  the  writing 
of  their  catalogues  and  booklets,  the  publicity  advertising  being 
taken  care  of,  at  that  time,  by  an  outside  agent.  This  latter 
arrangement  did  not  prove  altogether  satisfactory,  however, 
and  it  was  not  very  long  before  I  found  myself  in  charge  of  that 
also.  It  was  simply  a  case  of  working  into  the  position, — a  thing 
that  any  one  with  sufficient  intelligence,  will,  tact,  and  knowledge 
of  people  and  things,  could  do. 

To  be  sure,  I  had  had  several  years  of  experience  in  business 
before  I  began  to  teach,  so  that  I  already  had  some  knowledge 
of  salesmanship  and  business  principles.  I  was  fortunately 
familiar,  too,  as  a  result  of  my  experience  in  teaching,  with  some 
of  the  apparatus  made  by  the  company,  and  was  able,  without 
much  difficulty,  to  write  up  many  of  their  products.  Yet  there 
was  much,  very  much  to  learn,  and  the  end  is  not  yet. 

The  advertising  field  is  a  comparatively  new  one  for  women, 
and  offers  extraordinary  opportunities  to  one  able  to  grasp  them. 
There  are  a  number  of  women  who  have  been  remarkably  suc- 
cessful. All  of  them  have,  I  believe,  gained  their  experience 
working  up  from  humbler  positions,  which  enabled  them  to  get 
a  grasp  of  the  business  in  its  various  details.  General  principles 
of  advertising  can  be  learned  from  books,  and  there  are  several 
good  advertising  text-books,  but  each  and  every  business  to 
which  one  would  seek  to  apply  the  principles  must  be  made  the 
subject  of  exhaustive  study.  The  woman  who  succeeds  must 


172  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

learn  the  business  and  its  selling  problems,  and  must  seek  their 
solution.  She  must  study  the  buying  public,  and  know  how 
to  make  her  appeal  to  them.  She  must  have  all  the  numberless 
ways  of  making  this  appeal,  which  will  necessitate  a  knowledge 
of  printing  and  paper  and  processes  of  engraving  and  the  thou- 
sand and  one  ways  of  making  display.  She  must  know  about 
the  advertising  mediums  and  their  circulation  and  their  readers. 
In  short,  she  must  know  something  of  everything,  and  well-nigh 
everything  about  the  particular  things  she  is  to  exploit.  Adver- 
tising is  salesmanship,*  and  really  covers  everything  done  to  sell 
goods,  including  the  sign  over  the  door,  stationery,  labels,  boxes, 
no  less  than  catalogues,  booklets,  circulars,  and  space  in  maga- 
zines, papers,  and  programs.  Its  scope  is  almost  unlimited.  To 
one  who  has  the  power  to  become  a  success  the  rewards  may  be 
great. 

The  college  woman  who  would  take  up  this  work  will  find  that 

*The  following  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  an  advertising  agency  in  Massa- 
chusetts bears  out  the  above  statement: — 

"Success  in  any  line  of  advertising  endeavor,  outside  of  the  mere  office  routine 
of  stenography  and  book-keeping,  depends  almost  entirely  upon  the  worker's 
appreciation  of  the  principles  underlying  the  sale  of  merchandise.  Mere  clever 
writing  will  never  make  a  man  or  woman  a  success  in  the  advertising  world, 
either  as  regards  the  advertising  of  a  retail  store  or  in  connection  with  work  in 
the  office  of  a  manufacturing  plant  or  advertising  agency,  where  the  work  is 
really  the  development  of  a  sales-producing  plan. 

"  Personally,  I  know  of  few  women  successful  along  these  lines,  although  many 
are  employed  in  the  routine  work  of  advertising  offices.  I  know  of  several  women 
in  New  York  apparently  very  successful  in  their  advertising  work,  but  I  believe 
that  the  average  woman  will  not  succeed  unless  her  training  has  been  such  as  to 
instill  in  her  mind  a  thorough  comprehension  of  the  commercial  purpose  of  ad- 
vertising. 

"  I  should  say  that  a  writer  of  good  advertising  copy,  in  an  advertising  agency 
in  New  York,  Boston,  or  Chicago, — if  she  was  competent  to  put  this  selling  force 
into  her  work, — would  command  from  $25  a  week  up. 

"Many  women  are  making  a  success  in  the  designing  of  advertising  illustrations, 
especially  for  engraving  houses  that  make  a  specialty  of  illustrations  of  garments 
for  women's  wear.  Advertising  illustrating  is  not  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world, 
but  I  believe  that  in  it  lies  the  best  field  for  a  woman's  endeavor  in  the  advertis- 
ing business.  If  she  has  the  ability  to  grasp  the  selling  idea  that  the  advertising 
manager  or  agent  desires  expressed  in  the  illustration  or  design,  the  rest  is  a  matter 
of  perfecting  herself,  preferably  of  course  with  an  art  school  course,  as  an  artist 
or  designer."  See  page  267.— ED. 


BUSINESS  173 

it  is  a  difficult  thing  to  get  started  in.  Unless  one  has  exceptional 
ability  or  can  make  a  spectacular  play  at  the  outset  to  focus 
attention,  it  will  be  necessary  to  serve  an  apprenticeship,  long  or 
short  according  to  circumstances,  and  the  salary  at  the  beginning 
is  quite  apt  to  be  meagre.  She  will  be  in  a  position  where  she  is 
brought  into  direct  competition  with  men,  and  they  will  have 
many  advantages  over  her. 

If  I  were  starting  out  now  to  take  up  this  work,  I  should  en- 
deavor to  get  a  position  with  an  advertising  agency  or  in  the  ad- 
vertising department  of  a  large  business.  There  I  should  hope 
to  gain  the  experience  that  would  enable  me  to  take  charge  of  the 
advertising  of  a  small  business  where  I  might  be  able  to  make 
good. 


COLLEGE  GIRLS   IN   DEPARTMENT  STORES 
GERTRUDE  L.  MARVIN 

WELLESLEY   FELLOW,   RESEARCH   DEPARTMENT,   WOMEN'S  EDUCATIONAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL 

UNION 

The  organization  of  responsibility  in  a  large  dry -goods  store  may 
be  classified  under  four  general  headings:  1.  Buying;  2.  Store 
Management;  3.  Advertising;  4.  Records.  A  general  manager  or 
merchandise  man,  his  assistant,  a  corps  of  buyers  trained  by  years 
of  store  experience,  and  their  assistants  attend  to  the  buying. 
The  responsibility  of  these  experts  is  extensive.  « They  must  select 
the  goods  early  for  their  especial  department,  buying  shrewdly 
and  economically,  gauging  with  almost  prophetic  foresight  which 
styles  will  take  with  the  public,  and  in  what  quantity  to  order. 
The  goods  ordered,  their  responsibility  has  only  begun,  for  now 
they  must  sell  their  stock.  They  must,  in  consultation  with 
the  window  trimmer,  assemble  the  goods  which  shall  make  an 
effective  display  both  in  artistic  effect  and  money  values.  (  The 
organization  of  the  department,  too,  falls  to  them,  the  personnel 
of  the  sales  force, — whether  there  shall  be  a  large  number  of  in- 
experienced young  girls  at  the  minimum  salary  or  a  smaller 
number  of  more  experienced  and  capable  women,  commanding 


174  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

several  more  dollars  per  week.)  The  arrangement,  display,  and 
convenient  storing  of  goods,  the  appearance  and  atmosphere  of 
the  department, — all  these  things  are  under  the  direct  control 
of  the  buyers.  Thus  the  buyer  is  practically  an  independent 
merchant.  He  is  charged  by  the  firm  for  floor  space,  heat,  light, 
elevator  service,  and  salaries  of  salesgirls,  as  well  as  cost  of  all 
goods  bought.  His  receipts  must  cover  these  expenses  with  the 
margin  of  profit  demanded  by  the  firm.  He  has  the  anxiety  and 
responsibility  of  the  small  merchant  who  realizes  that  a  couple  of 
rainy  Mondays  or  a  late  spring  and  poor  trade  will  mean  that  he 
must  go  under. 

Usually  a  member  of  the  firm  or  some  highly  paid  superintend- 
ent is  store  manager,  and  he  himself,  or,  in  the  largest  firms,  one 
of  his  subordinates,  is  responsible  for  the  care  of  the  property. 
This  housekeeper-on-a-large-scale  supervises  the  purchasing  of 
all  equipment,  such  as  show-cases  and  office  fixtures,  plans  and 
directs  improvements  and  enlargements,  and  is  responsible 
through  his  subordinates  for  the  marshalling  and  control  of  the 
corps  of  scrub-women,  window-cleaners,  elevator  boys,  engineers, 
porters,  and  the  like.  Cleanliness,  comfortable  heating  and 
lighting,  adequate  elevator  service,  convenient  methods  of  getting 
about  the  store,  are  some  of  his  responsibilities.  He  is  also 
charged  with  the  protection  of  the  store  against  shop-lifters. 

The  working  force  is  supplied  by  the  superintendent  of  em- 
ployees, who  engages  every  employee  in  the  house,  except  his 
superiors.  His  office  is  likely  to  be  on  the  first  floor,  the  very 
centre  of  activities.  Here,  especially  just  before  the  big  sales,  one 
can  usually  see  a  long,  straggling  line  of  applicants  for  lower- 
grade  positions.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  superintendent  or  of  his 
subordinates  to  recognize  in  this  unsorted,  unlabelled  mass  of 
humanity  the  good  material,  to  sift  it  out,  and  with  a  clear  eye 
to  discern  the  individual  possibilities  as  each  applicant  files  into 
the  little  sanctum.  The  superintendent  who  can  recognize  the 
square  pegs  and  fit  them  into  the  square  holes,  putting  the 
round  pegs  into  the  round  holes  with  equal  skill,  contributes 
in  large  measure  to  the  success  of  the  store.  This  must  be  done 
by  wise  transfers  and  promotion,  as  well  as  by  judicious  selection 
in  the  first  place.  An  efficient  sales  force  is  a  powerful  instrument, 


BUSINESS  175 

and  if  a  girl  who  is  making  a  failure  of  the  glove  counter  can 
be  transferred  to  successful  work  at  the  men's  shirt  counter  or  up 
in  the  book  department,  each  with  its  different  classes  of  patrons 
and  varying  demands  on  the  clerk,  it  is  a  triumph  for  the  super- 
intendent and  so  much  added  to  the  efficiency  of  the  force7 

The  discipline  of  the  entire  force  is  in  charge  of  this  superin- 
tendent, but  he  delegates  it  to  officials  in  the  various  departments, 
who  are  thus  responsible  to  him  for  the  discipline  of  the  porters, 
cleaners,  accountants,  and  the  like,  though  they  are  independent 
of  him  in  other  respects.  The  sales  force,  for  instance,  is  di- 
rectly in  charge  of  the  floor  manager,  or  "floor- walker."  The 
average  shopper  may  look  upon  the  tall  gentleman  in  a  frock  coat 
as  a  guide  stationed  in  the  aisles  for  her  convenience,  but  he  is 
much  more  than  that.  The  discipline  of  the  sales  force,  their 
neatness  of  appearance,  their  quiet  behavior,  and  the  pleasing 
atmosphere  of  alert,  interested  attention  to  the  customer's  wants, 
which  one  finds  in  many  stores,  are  responsibilities  of  the  floor- 
walkers. Besides,  they  must  exercise  watchfulness  and  judgment 
in  maintaining  the  elaborate  system  that  holds  any  large  store 
together,  sign  return  checks  and  exchange  goods  checks.  They 
must  recognize  credit  customers  who  have  forgotten  their  coin 
of  identification,  and  settle  any  difficulty  that  may  arise  between 
shopper  and  salesgirl.  The  floor- walker  needs  intelligence,  dig- 
nity of  bearing,  and  personality,  not  only  for  the  control  of  the 
sales  force, — his  responsibility  to  the  superintendent  of  employees, 
—but  also  for  manipulation  of  system  and  for  dealing  with  the 
public. 

A  branch  of  the  work  closely  allied  to  the  actual  selling,  and 
bearing  the  same  relation  to  the  superintendent  of  employees 
and  buyers,  is  the  alteration  department.  It  has  advanced 
rapidly  in  importance  with  the  increasing  popularity  and  perfect- 
ing of  ready-made  garments.  One  store,  with  a  total  sales  force 
of  600  to  700,  employs  a  corps  of  about  60  fitters  and  pressers, 
which  runs  up  to  80  when,  in  the  busy  season,  100  to  120  finished 
suits  are  turned  out  per  day.  There  is  most  intricate  detail  and 
system  to  be  kept  working  smoothly.  Extra  fitters  must  be 
ready  at  a  moment's  notice  all  day  long,  as  the  salesgirls  tele- 
phone up  that  a  sale  is  made  and  they  need  a  fitter  at  once. 


176  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

Then  the  complicated  schedule  of  basted  fittings,  second  fittings, 
and  final  fittings  must  be  made  to  meet  the  customer's  con- 
venience and  to  dovetail  into  a  calendar  already  crowded  for 
days  ahead.  The  work  must  be  pushed  through.  In  the  tense 
atmosphere  of  whirring  machines  and  weary  nerves,  the  head 
of  the  workroom  must  stand  a  firm,  dominating  influence,  hold- 
ing the  moods  of  the  workers  and  the  speed  at  which  they 
operate  under  her  control,  winning  their  respect  and  trust,  so 
that,  when  the  need  comes  and  the  rush  is  keenest,  she  can 
encourage  them  to  their  highest  capacity  instead  of  having 
them  at  the  crucial  moment  strike,  sullen  and  tearful,  on  her 
hands. 

A  work  which  is  closely  allied  to  all  these  branches,  but  espe- 
cially to  that  of  the  superintendent  of  employees,  is  primarily 
social  and  educational.  In  only  one  of  our  stores  is  there  a 
welfare  department,  but  in  another  a  saleswoman  with  years  of 
experience  and  a  wide  acquaintance  among  the  employees  is  rec- 
ognized by  the  firm  as  leader  in  welfare  activities.  The  essen- 
tial quality  for  such  work  is  a  broad  sense  of  justice,  which  can 
see  both  sides  of  a  situation  or  of  a  misunderstanding,  and  deal 
with  them  fairly,  for  the  welfare  manager  must  be  an  interpreter, 
an  adjuster.  She  must  win  the  confidence  and  respect  of  both 
sides,  and  then  represent  them  to  each  other,  justifying  the  em- 
ployees to  the  firm  and  the  firm  to  the  employees,  using  her  in- 
fluence on  either  side  when  she  sees  injustice  or  misunderstanding. 
Further  than  that,  she  has  an  opportunity  for  knowing  the  em- 
ployees individually,  for  befriending  and  advising  them,  which, 
combined  with  a  knowledge  of  store  conditions,  makes  her  of  real 
social  value. 

The  goods  bought  and  displayed  and  the  sales  force  organized 
and  standing  ready  to  sell  it,  there  comes  next  a  most  important 
element  in  mercantile  success, — getting  the  public  to  come  and 
buy.  Modern  advertising  for  a  large  firm  may  be  subdivided  into 
newspaper  advertising,  store  decoration,  and  window  trimming. 
The  newspaper  end  includes  writing  original,  readable  advertise- 
ments, sketching  figures  and  decorative  designs,  selecting  the 
desirable  papers  and  making  contracts  with  them,  deciding  when 
to  take  a  full  page  and  when  a  half-column.  Store  decoration 


BUSINESS  177 

involves  featuring  the  sales,  which  are  continually  being  held  on 
various  pretexts, — anniversary  sale,  stock-taking  sale,  mid- 
summer sale,  mid-month  sale,  and  so  on.  Finally  there  is  the 
window  trimjning,  which  is  constantly  developing  as  a  fine  art. 
First,  it  is  necessary  to  study  the  class  of  patrons  to  whom  the 
store  caters,  and  decide  whether  a  gaudy  or  a  more  artistic  dis- 
play will  make  an  appeal,  whether  an  array  of  opera  gowns  and 
wraps  or  a  window  full  of  modest  $3.50  and  $5  wash  gowns — 
machine-made  dresses — will  actually  bring  more  customers  into 
the  store.  The  general  scheme  decided,  there  remains  the  as- 
sembling and  arranging  of  the  goods;  and  here,  they  say,  is  where 
the  art  lies,  for  on  being  able  to  see  the  window  vividly  in  his 
mind's  eye,  and  pick  out  from  the  heterogeneous  mass  of  stock 
just  the  tones  and  shapes  and  styles  which  are  going  to  blend  into 
an  effective  unified  whole, — on  this  the  entire  success  of  the  win- 
dow depends. 

The  direct  service  to  the  public,  of  buying,  selling,  and  adver- 
tising being  organized,  there  still  remains  a  large  department  of 
work.  High  above  the  street  in  these  stores,  away  from  the  noise 
and  confusion  of  the  lower  floors,  the  public  scarcely  conscious 
of  their  existence,  are  scores  of  girls  who  form  one  of  the  most 
vital  parts  of  this  huge  machinery, — the  auditing  and  statistical 
forces.  In  one  department  they  check  up  every  sale  slip  of 
each  salesgirl  every  day  and  credit  her  name  in  the  records  with 
the  total  amount.  Another  department  handles  the  enormous 
mail  from  credit  accounts,  adding  to  the  customers'  bills  from 
day  to  day  on  their  billing-machines,  sending  out  bills,  receipts, 
and  duns,  according  to  carefully  planned  system.  Here  are  the 
departments  which  keep  the  stock  books,  recording  what  stock 
comes  in  and  is  given  out  to  the  various  departments;  here  all  the 
invoices  and  bills  of  lading  must  be  checked  and  listed,  all  the 
cashiers'  lists  verified,  and  the  money  turned  in  audited  each  day; 
all  the  time  cards  of  the  hundreds  of  employees,  on  which  they 
stamp  by  an  automatic  device  the  hour  and  minute  of  arriving 
and  leaving,  must  be  inspected,  and  the  pay  envelopes  made  out 
accordingly,  with  deductions  for  lateness  and  absence.  All  this 
work,  planned  by  experts,  is  carried  out  by  a  large  force  of  young, 
untrained  girls,  who,  living  at  home,  are  able  to  give  their  time 


178  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

for  the  very  low  salaries,  $3  to  $5,  offered  in  these  departments. 
Positions  as  heads  of  these  departments  are  difficult,  because,  as 
one  superintendent  said,  it  is  no  sinecure  to  take  such  material 
and  manipulate  it  into  an  efficient,  well-organized  body,  which 
turns  out  rapidly  and  at  the  same  time  accurately  the  immense 
volume  of  monotonous  work. 

Such  is  the  general  scheme  of  organization  in  a  large  store.  It 
will  be  seen  that  the  tendency  is  to  careful  analysis  and  subdi- 
vision of  the  work,  and  then  specialization  on  that  line.  As  these 
stores  enlarge  in  scope  and  size,  as  department  after  department 
is  added,  and  building  after  building  is  annexed,  the  amount  of 
responsibility  to  be  delegated  grows  and  the  number  of  executive 
positions  open  to  capable  men  and  women  increases.  Propor- 
tionally to  the  rank  and  file,  there  are  a  large  number  of  leader- 
ship positions.  In  one  store,  for  instance,  there  is  one  executive 
to  every  ten  in  the  rank  and  file,  but  this  is  an  unusually  high 
percentage. 

The  question  which  especially  interests  us  is  how  much  this 
leadership  is  being  won  by  women,  how  much  more  women 
could  win.  In  the  6  stores  investigated  they  are  actually  hold- 
ing positions  in  3  of  the  4  main  divisions  of  responsibility. 
But  the  variety  of  positions  so  held  is  limited.  For  instance, 
there  'xre  more  women  buying  than  in  all  the  other  lines  put  to- 
gether: 67  per  cent,  of  the  responsible  positions  held  by  women 
are  held  by  buyers.  Women  have  a  natural  advantage  for  this 
kind  of  work  in  their  instinctive  sense  of  style,  color,  value,  and 
good  form.  Furthermore,  the  bulk  of  department  store  mer- 
chandise is  made  for  women  and  bought  by  women,  who  not 
only  do  their  own  shopping,  but  the  household  purchasing  as 
well.  Naturally,  a  woman  understands  the  habits  of  thought, 
tendencies,  and  especially  the  vulnerable  points  of  her  own  sex, 
better  than  a  man,  and  ought  to  be  able  to  cater  to  their  wants 
more  successfully.  More  than  this,  she  has  a  temperamental 
resourcefulness  in  devising  little  expedients  and  improvements, 
which  men  may  gain  only  by  much  effort,  if  at  all.  Heretofore 
the  successful  man  buyer  has  often  been  the  one  who  has  tactfully 
secured  the  co-operation  of  his  saleswomen,  consulting  with  them, 
and  using  their  experience  and  instinctive  sense  to  recognize  "good 


BUSINESS  179 

styles,"  the  popular  fancies,  desires,  and  prejudices,  especially  of 
women  customers.  The  women  who  have  developed,  in  addition 
to  their  hereditary  capacity  for  knowing  "good  styles,"  that  com- 
bination of  qualities  which  they  mysteriously  call  "trading  in- 
stinct," have  won  an  advantage  over  men  buyers,  and  are  holding 
the  important  positions  to-day.  This  trading  instinct  is  not 
haggling,  but  knowledge  of  how  and  where  to  get,  at  lowest 
prices  and  in  the  best  quality,  the  things  it  has  been  decided  the 
public  is  going  to  want.  It  is  establishing  a  reputation  among 
wholesale  travelling  men  for  knowing  one's  line,  for  meaning 
what  one  says,  and  for  straightforward  business  dealings.  It  is 
shrewdness  in  watching  the  market  and  discerning  tendencies  in 
advance,  both  as  they  affect  the  public  pocket  and  the  expenses 
of  one's  own  line  of  business. 

In  the  management  of  the  store  very  few  women  are  holding 
positions  as  floor  managers,  4  out  of  a  total  of  101  in  the  six 
stores.  A  conflict  of  opinion  as  to  woman's  usefulness  here  is 
evident.  There  is  said  to  be  prejudice  on  the  part  of  the  sales 
force  against  recognizing  the  authority  of  a  woman  as  discipli- 
narian and  executive  over  them.  There  is  also  the  prejudice  of  the 
public,  especially  women  shoppers,  against  accepting  the  deci- 
sions of  a  woman.  It  is  said  that,  when  there  is  any  trouble,  the 
shoppers  want  a  man  to  come  and  straighten  it  out.  One  super- 
intendent has  tried  women  as  floor  managers,  and  says  that  he  is 
convinced  that  they  are  not  equal  to  the  position.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  a  store  in  the  same  block  the  superintendent  of  employees 
points  to  a  woman  floor  manager  in  one  of  the  busiest  depart- 
ments, and  says  that  she  is  as  efficient  as  any  man  in  the  house. 

Among  the  heads  of  workrooms  in  these  stores,  four  are  women, 
but  here,  again,  there  is  a  conflict  of  opinion  as  to  woman's  fitness. 

Although  scattered  through  3  of  the  divisions  of  responsibil- 
ity, it  will  be  observed  that  women  are  actually  holding  only 
4  different  kinds  of  positions,  and  a  comparatively  small  num- 
ber at  that.  It  is  a  gratifying  thought  that  these  37  women 
are  giving  satisfaction  and  have  proved  their  adequacy  to  posi- 
tions which  a  few  years  ago  would  have  been  considered  quite 
beyond  their  reach. 

When  we  come  to  the  question  of  how  much  more  responsi- 


180  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

bility  women  are  capable  of  bearing  than  they  have  already  as- 
sumed, the  situation  is  complicated  by  the  conflicting  opinions 
of  the  superintendents  of  employees  interviewed.  In  store  man- 
agement, women  are  found  only  as  floor  superintendents  and  heads 
of  alteration  departments.  They  do  not  have  charge  of  the  plant, 
— a  duty  which  is  essentially  housekeeping  on  a  large  scale.  It 
requires  the  manipulation  of  unskilled  workers,  close  attention  to 
detail,  keen  observation  of  every  corner,  and  the  perpetual  struggle 
against  dirt  for  which  the  executive  woman  housekeeper  in  the 
large  hotels  draws  so  high  a  salary.  Surely,  women  ought  to  be 
able  to  step  into  this  field  and  take  the  responsibility  with  an 
assurance  bred  of  the  usage  of  generations  as  keeper  of  the  keys. 

No  one  of  the  superintendents  of  employees  thought  that  a 
woman  could  fill  his  position.  All  felt  that  it  required  a  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature  and  ability  to  size  people  up,  a  dignity  and 
authority  of  presence  which  women  lack.  Yet  one  superintendent 
told  of  a  store  in  another  city  where  he  was  once  employed  as 
floor  manager  in  which  the  unusually  efficient  superintendent  of 
employees  was  a  woman.  There  as  her  subordinate  he  recog- 
nized her  authority  and  admitted  her  great  business  capacity, 
yet  he  justifies  his  opinion  that  women  are  inadequate  for  such 
a  position  by  saying  that  he  considers  her  a  very  rare  woman, 
and — "there  practically  are  no  more  like  her!" 

It  is  curious  that  no  women  are  in  the  advertising  department, 
though  individual  women  have  made  fortunes  by  their  unique 
and  clever  ideas  in  this  line.  On  consideration  is  there  not  an 
analogy  between  advertising  and  buying?  Both  require  strong 
individuality,  sense  of  form,  good  taste,  and  the  power  of  divin- 
ing what  will  appeal  to  the  public,  the  one  in  a  flash  perhaps, 
and  the  other  by  careful  planning.  Would  not  the  same  qualities 
which  make  women  such  successful  buyers  come  into  play  in 
advertising?  And  yet,  with  the  exception  of  one  girl  who 
sketches  figures  for  newspaper  cuts  under  direction,  there  are  no 
women  in  the  advertising  departments  of  the  six  stores. 

It  will  be  observed  that  in  the  following  table  one  or  more  em- 
ployers assert  that  women  are  incapable  of  holding  positions  at 
that  very  time  held  by  women  in  other  stores. 


BUSINESS 


181 


Opinions  given  in  6  stores  as  to  capacity  of  women  for  holding  responsible 
positions.     The  numerals  signify  the  number  of  stores. 


il 

£ 

Jl 

—  - 

"s  £ 

I 

B 

II 

g 

^  M 

^  a 

E 

E 

tjfl 

« 

g 

0  <S 

e 

1 

§S 

il 

11 

£ 

«S 

*° 

m 

s  a 

w^ 

W8 

Women  are  holding  . 

- 

- 

- 

- 

5 

2 

2 

4 

Could  hold     .    .    . 

- 

- 

- 

2 

- 

- 

1 

1 

Could  not  hold  .    . 

6 

6 

6 

4 

1 

4 

3 

1 

There  are  only  three  classes  of  positions  which  all  seem  agreed 
are  closed  to  women, — as  members  of  the  firm  or  of  the  board  of 
managers,  and  as  superintendent  of  employees.  On  analyzing 
the  reasons  given  by  these  men  for  doubting  woman's  fitness  for 
carrying  responsibility,  they  seem  to  be  based  on  a  certain  hesi- 
tancy to  grant  woman  new  fields  of  industry.  She  can  keep  house 
in  her  own  home  or  even  in  a  large  hotel  excellently,  but  not  in  a 
store.  She  can  do  very  clever  advertising  individually,  but  can- 
not be  intrusted  with  the  advertising  of  a  large  concern.  These 
superintendents  mentioned  certain  specific  lacks  among  women, 
however,  which  are  both  interesting  and  suggestive:  lack  of  tact 
in_^anaging._peQple;  lack_of  Authority  and  prestige,  especially 
with  other  women,  botb^customers  and  employees;^  lack  of  justice 
in3keej)jn^_a_.lMX>adT-fair_^int^>f_  view;  no  jjreadth  of  mental 
ability  to  grasp  a  principle  or  policyjn  the  large,  apply  it  and  carry 
ifToTwarTlndependentlyy  lack  of  confidence  on  the  part  of  the 
employer^  making  it _  difficult  for  her  jo  attain  responsible  sub- 
ojrb^n^e_£OsryxMi3,  which  would  give  her  the  requisite  experi- 
ence and  judgment;  physical  incapacity  for  the  wearing  strain 
of  every-day  routine  and  the  perpetual  responsibility  of  such  posi- 
tions; lack  of  power  to  carry  responsibility,  to  throw  off  at  the 
end  of  the  day  all  thought  of  care  and  worry  and  forget  it  until 
the  next  day's  work  begins. 

These  opinions  are  interesting,  and  we  must  recognize  a  certain 


182  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

amount  of  truth  in  them,  and  yet  each  of  those  thirty-seven  women 
who  are  holding  positions  is  disproving  some  of  the  lacks  which 
are  here  claimed  for  women  in  general.  Moreover,  the  fact 
that  opinions  vary  so  widely  as  to  the  capacity  of  women  for 
holding  any  responsibility  such  as  buyer,  would  indicate  that 
these  negative  opinions  are  in  some  part  due  to  prejudice  and  con- 
servatism, and  that  the  personal  equation  enters  very  largely  into 
the  superintendents'  decisions. 

Although  the  opening  wedge  has  been  made  into  this  field  and 
although  its  possibilities  are  steadily  increasing  as  woman's 
ability  proves  itself,  beating  down  prejudice  and  opposition, 
there  must  still  remain  in  many  minds  questions  as  to  the  desira- 
bility of  such  employment  for  a  life-work.  The  length  of  train- 
ing required  and  the  conditions  of  labor  during  what  may  be  called 
the  apprenticeship,  should  influence  our  opinion  of  department 
stores  as  an  opportunity  for  college  women. 

Various  positions  are  open  to  women  at  the  start,  depending  on 
the  kind  of  position  for  which  they  aim.  For  heads  of  the  statis- 
tical and  record  departments,  no  matter  what  technical  training 
and  facility  with  figures  they  may  have,  actual  experience  in  the 
various  sorts  of  clerical  work  is  essential  as  giving  a  close  knowl- 
edge of  conditions  and  methods  of  work.  For  floor  managers, 
buyers,  and  executives  in  control  of  the  store  and  employees, 
experience  in  selling  is  most  necessary.  By  direct  contact  with  the 
public  and  in  handling  stock,  by  personally  knowing  what  a  sales- 
person can  or  cannot  achieve,  they  attain  an  authority  in  their 
position  and  a  surety  of  control  which  nothing  else  quite  gives. 

The  general  conditions  of  work  are  a  nine-hour  day,  with  two 
weeks'  paid  vacation  and  Saturday  afternoons  for  the  three  summer 
months.  The  salaries  range  from  $6  up  to  $10  or  $12.  In  some 
stores,  commissions  are  paid  on  all  sales  over  a  specified  amount, 
and  a  few  exceptionally  clever  salesgirls  are  able  to  make  $20  and 
$25  a  week,  running  as  high  as  $45  during  the  Christmas  week  or 
in  the  big  bargain  sales. 

The  length  of  experience  necessary  for  promotion  varies  from 
six  months  to  several  years.  The  steps  of  promotion  are  gradual. 
For  a  salesgirl  the  first  step  up  would  be  as  head  of  stock.  This 
involves  superintending  the  girls  at  her  counter,  and  being  re- 


BUSINESS  183 

sponsible  for  condition  of  the  stock  on  her  shelves,  seeing  that  it  is 
neatly  put  away  at  night  and  that  it  is  attractively  displayed  in  the 
show-cases  and  on  the  shelves.     She  must  also  keep  close  count  of 
stock,  and  report  to  her  buyer  all  articles  that  are  running  low^~  The 
careful  and  efficient  head  of  stock  is  usually  promoted  to  assistant 
buyer  when  there  is  a  vacancy,  and  there  she  may  stay  indefi- 
nitely until  old  age  overtakes  her,  unless  she  manifests  individual 
ability  to  go  ahead  and  take  responsibility  on  her  own  initiative. 
The  cases  of  23  women  executives  interviewed  are  interesting 
and  suggestive.     We  find  that  every  one  had  worked  her  way 
up,  apparently  without  any  pull,   through  sheer  effort  and  in- 
dividual ability.     Over  half  began  to  work  as  cash  or  bundle 
girls  at  sixteen  years  of  age  or  under.     Only  11  of  these  women 
went   to   high   school,   and   of   the  other   12,   2   did   not   finish 
grammar  school.     In  spite  of  their   extreme   youth  those  who 
began  as  cash-girls  were  almost  at  once  promoted  to  selling,  but 
the  next  interval  before  promotion  to  head  of  stock  or  assistant 
buyer  varied  from  six  months  to  ten  years.     In  the  matter  of 
training,  10  began  to  work  in  some  shop  either  out  in  the  coun- 
try or  in  a  small  town,  where  they  received  the  close  supervision 
of  the  head  men,  and  where  they  also  had  the  advantage  of  taking 
part  in  the  running  of  a  store  small  enough  to  permit  them  to 
understand  and  to  perceive  the  necessities  of  the  business.     These 
women,  rising  to  their  present  important  positions,  many  of  them, 
without  the  advantages  of  a  thorough  education,  must  mani- 
festly be  women  of  unusual  ability — of  genius  in  their  line.     They 
suggest  a  question  as  to  whether  many  women  of  lesser  talent 
could  not,    with  the   advantage    of   better   early  training    and 
education,   win   the    high '  positions   beside   these  few    pioneers. 
College  has  not  yet  received  general  recognition  as  a  practical, 
helpful  training  for  business  life.     For  this  reason  the  firms  are 
unwilling  to  make  any  better  offer  to  a  young  college  graduate 
than  to  any  other  girl.     She  must  realize  that,  as  far  as  business 
experience  goes,  she  has  merely  lost  the  four  years  spent  in  col- 
lege which  another  girl  will  have  spent  in  the  store,  learning  the 
system,  and  accustoming  herself  to  business  methods,  punctuality, 
accuracy,  etc.,  and  that,  therefore,  the  non-college  girl  is  actually 
four  years  ahead  of  her.    It  is  for  the  college  girl  to  prove  the  value 


184 


VOCATIONS   FOR  THE  TRAINED   WOMAN 


of  her  college  investment  by  going  in  four  years  late,  but  with 
the  added  training  and  mental  acumen  which  shall  enable  her  to 
catch  up  and  surpass  in  the  first  decade.  Not  every  college  girl 
can  do  this,  however,  any  more  than  all  non-college  girls  can.  It 
is  not  a  matter  of  college  or  non-college:  it  seems  to  be  a  ques- 
tion of  individual  energy  and  enthusiasm.  But  all  other  things 
being  equal,  given  a  college  graduate  with  a  practical  head  and 
ready  understanding,  with  no  tendency  to  conceit  over  her  four 
academic  years,  and  it  does  seem  that  she  ought  to  prove  the  value 
of  her  training  in  logical  thinking,  in  fair-mindedness  in  dealing 
with  people,  and  that  in  reasonably  few  years. 

As  for  the  life,  once  success  is  attained,  it  has  decided  attrac- 
tions. In  the  matter  of  salaries  it  is  difficult  to  get  information, 
as  firms  are  very  reluctant  to  quote  salaries  paid : — 


Head-buyer 
Buyer 


Head  advertiser 


Window  trimmer,  decorator, 
etc. 

Head  office  forces 


Head  clerical  departments. 


Floor  manager 


Head  workrooms 


Store 

A 
A 
B 
E 
F 
A 
B 
C 
E 
F 

A 
B 
B 
C 
E 
A 
C 
E 
A 
B 
C 
E 
A 
C 


Minimum 

$5,000 
1,820 
2,000 

5,000  average 
1,500 
2,000 
2,000 
1,500 
2,600 
1,500 


1,300 

780 

2,000 

over  3,000 

5,000 

936 

1,500 

780 

1,040 

1,040 

780 

780 

1,040 


Maximum 

$50,000 
6,500 
3,500 

2,500 
15,000 

10,000 
10,000 

2,600 
2,600 


1,800 
2,000 
2,600 
1,820 
1,300 
1,300 
15,600 
1,300 


BUSINESS  185 

The  writer  knows  personally  of  two  buyers  in  Boston,  one  of 
whom  receives  $4,000  salary  and  an  annual  trip  to  Europe,  the 
other  over  $6,500.  From  these  figures  it  is  fair  to  conclude  that 
women  are  receiving  high  salaries  as  buyers.  It  has,  however, 
been  impossible  to  get  data  showing  whether  women  are  paid 
lower  salaries  or  the  same  as  men  for  the  same  work,  because 
every  buyer  has  his  own  individual  value,  and  it  is  that  which 
regulates  his  salary  rather  than  the  trade  or  firm  or  department  for 
which  he  happens  to  be  buying.  In  this  connection  it  is  interest- 
ing to  note  that,  of  the  twenty-one  women  interviewed,  all  were 
entirely  self-supporting,  and  all  but  two  were  supporting  at  least 
one  other.  And  yet  employers,  when  charged  with  holding  women 
down  to  lower  wages  than  they  give  men  for  the  same  work,  offer 
the  excuse  that  the  men  have  families  to  support,  while  the  women 
have  only  themselves. 

The  different  departments  demand  different  duties  of  their 
heads,  but  all  involve  meeting  successful  and  interesting  people 
on  an  equal  footing,  and,  for  the  buyer,  frequent  trips  to  New 
York,  if  not  to  Europe,  and  entire  independence  as  to  conditions 
of  work, — they  may  be  as  punctilious  in  observance  of  store  hours 
or  as  regardless  as  they  desire,  provided  they  get  the  results. 
Coupled  with  these  more  showy  attractions  is  a  graver,  more 
serious  call  to  the  work, — the  opportunity  for  social  effort  among 
the  employees,  unorganized  and  scattered,  many  of  them  under- 
paid,— quite  as  effectual  constructive  social  activity  as  in  many 
more  recognized  forms  of  benevolent  work. 

Women  are  at  present  holding  71  per  cent,  of  the  positions  in  the 
rank  and  file  in  these  six  department  stores,  but  of  the  respon- 
sible and  executive  only  16  per  cent.  A  few  years  ago  it  was  prob- 
ably the  same  large  proportion  of  subordinate  and  0  per  cent,  of 
executives.  One  of  our  Boston  buyers  said  she  was  one  of  Wana- 
maker's  first  women  buyers,  and  was  actually  the  first  woman  to 
cross  the  ocean  for  him,  which  indicates  how  recent  is  this  giving 
women  the  responsibility. 

Since,  then,  women  have  broken  into  these  lines  so  recently  and 
have  made,  relatively  speaking,  such  success  of  it,  we  can  certainly 
feel,  without  making  any  concrete  prophecies  for  the  future,  that 
her  development  in  these  lines  is  progressing  rapidly  and  surely. 


186  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 


BUYING   FOR   COLLEGE   WOMEN 
RALPH  P.  ALBERTSON 

SUPEBINTENDENT   OF   EMPLOYEES,   WlLLIAM   FlLENE's   SON8   COMPANY 

The  specialization  of  work  in  the  retail  dry-goods  business 
has  created  some  positions  which  carry  with  them  high  salaries, 
and  which,  it  has  been  discovered,  can  be  filled  as  well  by  women 
as  by  men,  if  not  better.  The  most  highly  paid  line  of  work  that 
is  open  to  any  considerable  number  of  women  is  buying.  This 
requires  knowledge  of  merchandise,  knowledge  of  the  demand, — 
which  is  gained  only  by  department  store  experience, — knowledge 
of  the  market  and  the  sources  of  supply,  taste,  executive  ability, 
and  courage  tempered  with  judgment.  The  number  of  women 
doing  this  work  is  rapidly  increasing.  Most  of  them  have  had 
only  a  grammar  school  education.  Their  salaries  go  above 
$10,000  in  some  instances,  while  $4,000  or  $5,000  is  not  at  all 
unusual. 

The  apprenticeship,  however,  is  of  such  a  nature  that  the  posi- 
tion of  buyer  is  ordinarily  unattractive  to  a  college  woman.  To 
become  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  goods  and  the  store  life  and 
methods,  it  is  necessary  for  her  to  have  such  an  experience  in 
handling  and  manipulating  the  stock  and  the  actual  selling  of  it 
to  customers  as  can  be  obtained  only  through  the  humbler  posi- 
tions. So  little  experimenting  has  been  done  with  college  women 
in  this  line  that  it  is  difficult  to  say  just  how  long  this  apprentice- 
ship must  be.  I  have  stated  two  years  as  a  maximum  length  of 
time  which  a  college  woman  must  spend  as  a  saleswoman  before  she 
can  be  given  a  position  as  assistant  buyer.  In  many  cases  this 
doubtless  can  be  reduced  to  one  year;  in  one  case  we  reduced 
it  to  three  months;  in  another  case  a  woman  who  had  had  some 
business  experience  in  other  lines  since  leaving  college  was  made 
an  assistant  buyer  without  any  apprenticeship  in  our  business. 

As  to  the  natural  qualifications,  the  following  are  essential : — 

1.  A  strong  body. 

2.  Capacity  for  hard  work. 


BUSINESS  187 

3.  A  high  degree  of  mental  energy. 

4.  Taste. 

5.  Executive  qualities;  i.e.,  initiative,  concentration,  progres- 
siveness,  responsibility. 

While  I  have  used  the  word  "essential"  above,  it  is  true  that 
some  women  not  particularly  strong  in  some  of  these  qualifications 
have  made  a  success  of  this  work. 

The  demand  for  good  buyers  is  great.  I  doubt  if  there  is  another 
field  in  which  the  salaries  are  anything  like  as  good  as  they  are 
in  this,  where  there  are  so  many  opportunities  and  where  employers 
have  so  much  difficulty  in  supplying  their  needs. 

The  training  for  buyership  has  hitherto  been  almost  altogether 
practical ;  that  is,  it  has  been  a  matter  of  experience.  Buyers  have 
not  been  intentionally  trained  at  all.  In  fact,  they  have  been 
created  by  the  natural  and  more  or  less  accidental  selection  of  the 
"likeliest"  saleswomen,  who  are  given  responsibilities  and  buying 
opportunities  as  a  "trying-out."  This  process  is  not  satisfactory 
to  the  more  intelligent  and  far-sighted  men  in  the  business,  and 
therefore  they  have  begun  to  discover  and  establish  a  theory  of 
buying,  and  to  reach  out  after  college-bred  people.  It  is  safe 
to  assume,  therefore,  that  in  a  very  short  time  a  number  of  de- 
partment stores  will  be  systematically  teaching  and  training 
candidates  for  buyerships  by  a  new  method, — a  combination  of 
theory  and  practice. 

The  chief  obstacle  that  stands  in  the  way  of  the  entrance  of 
college  women  upon  this  line  of  work  is  the  necessarily  small  pay 
in  beginning.  They  are  worth  to  the  department  store  at  the 
commencement  only  what  they  can  earn  in  competition  with 
other  saleswomen,  and  they  can  seldom  earn  as  much  at  the  start 
as  the  ordinary  saleswoman  who  is  experienced  in  the  business. 
When,  therefore,  they  are  offered  $10  per  week  or  less,  to  begin 
with,  they  face  an  immediate  financial  sacrifice,  as  they  can  earn 
more  ordinarily  in  other  lines.  The  nature  of  this  comparison 
changes  at  once,  however,  as  the  openings  for  advancement  in 
the  department  store  are  greater  and  more  quickly  reached  than 
in  almost  any  other  field.  It  is  necessary  for  the  college  woman 
in  taking  this  step  to  be  willing  to  make  some  investment  in 
her  own  future,  just  as  the  managers  of  department  stores  are 


188  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

discovering  that  it  is  necessary  for  them  to  make  some  investment 
in  college  women  in  order  to  develop  the  class  of  buyers  that  are 
needed. 

On  the  whole,  I  should  say  that  only  a  small  percentage  of 
college  women  are  naturally  adapted  to  successful  department 
store  work,  but  for  those  who  are  this  work  offers  in  opportunity 
and  salary  very  great  inducements.  The  small  salary  at  the 
start  is  so  overwhelmingly  offset  by  the  larger  salary  that  follows 
that  it  should  never  be  permitted  to  stand  in  the  way,  and,  now 
that  institutions  are  offering  definite  training  for  buyerships, 
there  ought  to  be  an  enthusiastic  response  to  the  offer  on  the 
part  of  a  large  number  of  college  women  who  wish  to  be  inde- 
pendent, and  who  wish  to  be  in  a  slight  measure  pioneers. 


BANKING  AND  BANK  WORK  FOR  WOMEN 
ELEANOR  B.  RICHARDSON 

WITH  THE  SECOND  NATIONAL  BANE  OP  SAGINAW,  MICHIGAN 

That  women  not  only  make  successful  bank  clerks,  but  are 
able  to  fill  official  positions  to  equal  advantage,  is  evidenced  by 
the  large  number  of  women  bank  presidents,  cashiers,  and  as- 
sistant cashiers  that  are  listed  in  the  banking  directories.  In 
fact,  there  are  several  banks  in  the  United  States  managed  and 
conducted  entirely  by  women,  and  it  is  noticeable  that  their  state- 
ments compare  favorably  with  those  of  their  competitors. 

There  are  many  reasons  why  women  are  especially  well  qualified 
to  hold  positions  with  financial  institutions,  one  of  which  probably 
is  that  the  work  in  such  places  consists  of  a  mass  of  detail  work, 
and,  if  we  are  to  believe  a  certain  self-appointed  masculine  au- 
thority, the  feminine  brain  surpasses  the  masculine  only  when 
applied  to  such  duties.  A  well-known  woman  banker  (cashier 
of  a  large  national  bank  in  the  West)  declares  that  women  make 
excellent  bankers  because  of  their  intuitive  powers,  which  enable 
them  to  judge  conditions  and  men  accurately  and  quickly.  Add 
to  this  qualification  another  well-known  characteristic  of  the 


BUSINESS  189* 

feminine  nature, — tact,  combined  with  an  innate  strength  of 
character  that  makes  a  woman,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  proof 
against  a  temptation  to  be  dishonest, — and  you  have  some  of  the 
general  reasons  for  the  success  attained  by  women  in  the  field 
of  banking.  But  a  girl,  either  with  or  without  a  college  course, 
must  not  expect  to  enter  a  bank  and  straightway  become  an 
official.  For,  as  every  banker  will  tell  you,  there  is  no  royal 
road  to  success  here  any  more  than  in  any  other  line  of  work,  and 
almost  invariably  one  must  begin  at  the  bottom  and  climb  up  very 
slowly. 

To  a  young  woman  desirous  of  obtaining  a  position  in  a  bank  a 
knowledge  of  stenography  is  a  great  help,  as  is  also  an  acquaintance 
with  one  or  more  foreign  languages,  because,  as  a  rule,  the  place 
most  frequently  open  to  women  is  that  of  stenographer.  Once 
a  member  of  the  clerical  force  of  a  bank,  however,  there  are  a 
number  of  other  capacities  in  which  women  are  admirably  fitted 
to  serve,  as  tellers,  book-keepers,  draft  clerks,  and  managers  of 
various  general  departments.  Chief  among  such  positions  is  that 
of  manager  of  a  woman's  department.  Such  a  position  is  prob- 
ably the  pleasantest  that  a  woman  can  hold,  but  it  is  no  sinecure, 
as  the  duties  involved  necessitate  considerable  knowledge  not 
only  of  finance,  but  of  human  nature.  Here  one  must  meet  and 
advise  the  feminine  customers  of  the  bank  on  all  manner  of  topics, 
and  the  utmost  degree  of  tact  is  required  to  handle  these  cus- 
tomers happily.  The  following  outline  of  a  day's  duties  per- 
formed by  one  woman  in  such  a  position  is  quoted  from  a  booklet 
called  "The  Bank  Lady,"  issued  by  a  large  trust  company  in 
the  North-west,  which  evidently  considers  "The  Bank  Lady"  one 
of  its  most  valuable  assets: — 

"Before  this  task  was  finished,  a  woman  who  had  just  fallen 
heir  to  a  large  sum  through  the  settlement  of  an  estate  was  waiting 
for  a  patient  tutoring  about  financial  mysteries  such  as  no  mere 
man  could  give,  as  he  seems  quite  incapable  of  understanding  the 
average  woman's  views  of  business.  The  different  advantages 
and  rates  of  interest  of  bonds,  mortgages,  special  certificates,  and 
other  things,  were  explained  before  the  customer  was  passed  on 
to  the  higher  officials  for  final  decision. 

"When  banking  hours  were  done,  there  was  an  invalid  patron. 


190  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

to  visit  with  information  about  her  affairs.  That  call  was  followed 
by  an  appointment  with  a  wealthy  stranger  who  wished  to  have 
a  money  talk  with  the  Bank  Lady.  .  .  .  Months  and  years  of  days 
like  this  have  marvellously  trained  the  Bank  Lady's  brain  and 
heart.  Her  knowledge,  patience,  tact,  and  sympathy  are  potent 
to  do  away  with  difficulties  big  and  little.  While  money  troubles, 
with  all  their  manifold  complications,  have  no  terror  for  her,  yet 
she  understands  well  the  attitude  of  the  feminine  mind  unfamiliar 
with  these  things." 

As  to  the  salaries  paid,  it  is  difficult  to  speak  with  certainty, 
as  salaries  here,  as  in  other  lines  of  work,  vary  in  different  parts 
of  the  country,  and  in  addition  depend  to  a  great  extent  upon  the 
liberality  of  the  governing  board  of  directors.  As  a  result  of 
several  years  of  careful  observation,  however,  I  feel  justified  in 
saying  that  a  girl  who  enters  a  bank  immediately  after  her  gradua- 
tion from  high  school,  at  the  end  of  four  years  will  be  receiving  a 
salary  equal  to  what  she  might  expect  to  receive,  had  she  spent 
the  four  years  at  college  and  then  taken  up  teaching.  Up  to 
this  time  I  believe  very  few  women  college  graduates  have  gone 
into  this  work,  so  I  cannot  say  what  they  might  expect.  Or- 
dinarily, one  must  begin  with  a  small  salary  and  be  content  to 
advance  slowly,  but  surely,  it  being  the  custom  of  most  large  banks 
to  increase  the  salary  of  all  their  employees  each  year.  In  this 
way,  if  one  stays  on  with  the  bank,  one  will  in  time  receive  a  salary 
at  least  much  larger  than  what  one  could  earn  at  teaching.  One 
college  woman  I  know,  after  teaching  successfully  for  a  number  of 
years,  was  offered  $1,500  a  year  to  take  the  position  as  manager 
of  a  woman's  department. 

The  advantages  of  the  work  are  many.  In  addition  to  the 
material  advantages,  to  a  girl  keenly  interested  in  people,  bank 
work  offers  an  interesting  field  of  observation,  and  has  an  edu- 
cative and  broadening  effect  that  teaching  lacks.  Moreover, 
in  this  work  a  woman  gains  a  familiarity  with  business  facts  and 
figures  that  is  invaluable  to  her,  especially  if  she  is  dependent 
upon  her  own  resources.  Another  advantage  not  to  be  overlooked 
is  the  value  of  associating  with  men  of  such  high  standards  as 
the  bankers  of  this  country  have  almost  invariably  proved  them- 
selves to  be. 


BUSINESS  191 

But  having  spoken  of  the  advantages  of  bank  work  for  women, 
I  must  now  speak  of  the  drawbacks.  The  greatest  of  these  is  the 
fact  that  any  bank  position  entails  a  great  deal  of  confining  and 
nerve-racking  work.  The  bank  day  is  a  short  one  for  customers. 
It  is  nearly  twice  as  long  for  the  clerks,  who  must  stay  at  their 
desks  until  the  day's  work  is  finished,  no  matter  how  late  that 
may  be.  Another  serious  disadvantage  is  that,  since  two  or  three 
weeks  is  the  average  time  allowed  for  vacation,  a  bank  clerk  has 
little  chance  to  travel  and  see  the  world.  In  summing  up  the 
whole  situation,  however,  I  would  repeat  that  for  a  girl  possessing, 
in  addition  to  good  health  and  a  thorough  education,  habits  of 
industry  and  a  capacity  for  loyalty, — and  by  loyalty  I  mean  not 
only  enthusiasm  for  the  success  of  the  institution  one  serves, 
but  a  willingness  to  serve  it  to  the  best  of  one's  abilities  at  all 
times  and  in  all  ways, — the  banking  world  to-day  offers  many 
splendid  opportunities  for  success  in  a  work  which  is  always 
interesting  and  stimulating. 


THE    BANK   LIBRARIAN   AND    FILING    CLERK 
GERTRUDE  UNDERBILL 

In  discussing  the  work  of  the  bank  librarian  and  filing  clerk, 
I  do  not  pretend  to  cover  the  entire  scope  of  woman's  activity  in 
banks,  but  to  suggest  a  field  which  until  recently  has  been  little 
heard  of.  The  necessity  of  putting  a  trained  and  educated  person 
in  charge  of  its  papers  and  documents  was  first  realized  by  one 
or  two  banking  firms  about  twelve  years  ago.  Dissatisfaction 
with  the  crude  systems  then  in  vogue  led  to  the  suggestion  that 
library  methods  of  cataloguing  and  classifying  might  be  applied 
to  the  bank's  papers.  Columbia  University  Library  and  the 
As  tor  Library  were  called  upon  for  cataloguers.  The  experiment 
was  found  to  work  successfully,  and  other  houses  followed  suit. 

The  positions  of  librarian  and  filing  clerk  are  often  combined. 
It  is  through  this  combination  that  one  is  brought  in  contact 
with  the  more  interesting  and  varied  work.  In  banks  where  the 


192  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

work  is  more  highly  specialized,  however,  the  librarian's  work 
may  be  combined  with  that  of  the  statistician,  as  is  fully  shown 
in  another  article  in  this  issue. 

The  work  of  the  librarian  and  filing  clerk  consists,  first,  in  sys- 
tematizing, classifying,  and  indexing  by  subject  the  large  accumu- 
lations of  papers.  The  now  well-known  vertical  system  is  uni- 
versally used.  The  subject  of  each  file  is  indexed  by  card,  and 
the  card  given  a  number  identical  to  that  used  on  the  correspond- 
ing envelope  or  folder.  A  simple  numerical  system  or  a  variation 
of  the  Dewey  Decimal  System  may  be  adapted  to  the  business 
files.  The  working  out  of  a  suitable  system  calls  for  much  in- 
genuity and  thought  on  the  part  of  the  worker.  That  a  certain 
system  has  succeeded  in  one  house  is  no  absolute  criterion  that  it 
will  be  adapted  to  the  needs  of  another  house,  as  the  subjects 
dealt  in  may  be  quite  different  in  each  case.  The  great  ideal  of 
business  men  is  to  have  their  systems  both  adequate  and  simple: 
it  is  their  pride  to  say,  "  Any  one  can  find  anything  in  our  files." 

The  filing  clerk's  duties  may  be  said  only  to  begin  with  the  dis- 
position of  material.  She  must  be  prepared  for  any  number  of 
vague  and  indefinite  requests  for  material,  and  be  able  through 
her  intuitive  sense  to  make  quick  guesses  at  what  is  really  desired, 
as  time  is  a  most  important  element  in  "Wall  Street."  A  man 
well  versed  in  filing  systems  has  said  that  in  England  firms  usually 
allow  a  day  for  the  hunting  up  of  old  files,  but  in  America  a  filing 
clerk  is  looked  on  with  suspicion  if  she  takes  more  than  three 
minutes, — one  to  one  and  one-half  minutes  is  the  average  time 
allowed.  In  the  files  of  a  large  banking  house  the  variety  of 
subjects  is  very  great.  There  is  an  array  of  syndicate  subjects; 
loans,  foreign,  domestic,  and  individual;  legal  and  corporation 
matters,  reports,  mortgages,  documents,  and  statistical  work.  It 
is  the  duty  of  the  filing  clerk  to  see  that  her  files  are  kept  up  to 
date  in  all  such  matters.  This  is  done  by  keeping  in  close  touch 
with  the  correspondence  of  the  firm,  and  also  with  the  news  items 
of  the  financial  papers. 

Ten  years  ago  the  number  of  positions  open  in  this  line  of  work 
were  comparatively  few.  The  field,  however,  has  broadened  to 
such  an  extent  that  filing  has  become  a  recognized  profession. 
The  necessity  for  system  has  opened  the  door  in  most  houses. 


BUSINESS  193 

As  New  York  is  the  financial  centre  of  the  country,  so  the  oppor- 
tunities here  are  many.  Every  so-called  private  banker,  invest- 
ment house,  national  bank,  and  trust  company  of  any  standing 
offers  such  a  position  or  will  do  so  in  the  near  future. 

To  enter  this  line  of  work  with  some  assurance  of  success,  a 
short  library  training  is  desirable,  if  not  absolutely  necessary. 
During  the  course  of  training  especial  attention  should  be  given 
to  cataloguing  and  classification.  Pratt  Institute  of  Brooklyn 
and  the  New  York  Public  Library  offer  excellent  library  courses. 
The  colleges  and  universities  of  the  city,  particularly  Columbia 
University,  take  apprentices  in  their  libraries  and  give  a  very  ade- 
quate training.  In  houses  where  assistants  are  employed  one  can 
very  profitably  serve  a  term  of  apprenticeship  to  some  competent 
librarian. 

The  different  file  equipment  companies  of  the  city  give  short 
suggestive  or  outline  courses,  which  should  be  used  only  to  supple- 
ment the  library  training.  Cornell  and  the  New  York  University 
offer  courses  in  commerce  and  finance  which  aim  to  prepare  the 
student  for  financial  work.  The  curriculum  in  other  colleges 
may  be  planned  with  this  financial  work  in  view.  In  this  case, 
courses  should  be  taken  in  economics  and  mathematics.  A 
thorough  reading  knowledge  of  at  least  German  and  French  should 
be  acquired. 

The  beginner  in  this  work  now  gets  $80  or  $90  a  month.  "  Raises 
in  salary,"  however,  are  not  infrequent,  and  a  few  years  bring 
one  to  a  good  salary.  Inquiry  shows  the  average  wage  of  the 
experienced  worker  to  be  about  $1,500  a  year.  Better  salaries 
than  this  are  obtained  in  particular  instances.  Where  the  work 
is  especially  heavy,  a  salary  of  $2,000  a  year  is  a  just  compen- 
sation. As  in  other  lines  of  work,  term  of  service  here  is  a  con- 
sideration, and  as  years  are  added  to  one's  record,  the  salary 
grows.  It  remains  with  the  woman  to  demand  adequate  pay  for 
her  service. 


194  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

THE    BANK   LIBRARIAN    AND    STATISTICIAN 

M.  LOUISE  ERWIN 

In  many  of  the  large  New  York  banking  and  bond  houses, 
women  are  now  filling  the  position  of  librarian.  In  only  a  few 
are  the  positions  of  librarian  and  statistician  combined,  probably 
because  of  the  lack  of  applicants  having  the  necessary  training. 

The  duties  as  librarian  are  the  classification  and  cataloguing 
or  indexing  of  books,  pamphlets,  etc.,  keeping  the  records  up  to 
date,  and  keeping  track  of  the  documents  called  for.  To  accomplish 
this  calls  for  constant  and  close  reading  of  the  daily  papers  and 
financial  periodicals  for  issues  of  new  securities,  legislative  enact- 
ments, and  everything  and  anything  calculated  to  interest  or 
influence  the  finances  of  the  United  States,  individual  States, 
cities,  railroad  and  industrial  companies,  etc.  In  addition  to 
having  the  information  on  hand  properly  indexed  and  readily 
accessible,  the  statistician  must  be  prepared  to  analyze  mortgages 
and  reports,  write  descriptive  statements  of  securities,  compile 
earnings  and  statistics  of  any  and  every  kind. 

Most  of  the  women  now  employed  as  statisticians  have  been 
trained  as  librarians  and  have  come  to  some  understanding  of 
the  statistical  work  through  the  demands  made  upon  them.  A 
few  have  worked  into  it  through  stenography,  and  at  least  one 
through  editorial  work.  But  no  woman  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
writer  has  as  yet  filled  the  position  as  it  can  and  should  be  filled, 
since  no  woman  with  the  requisite  preliminary  education  has  ever 
taken  up  the  work.  Those  now  engaged  who  appreciate  their 
lack  of  preparation  have  taken  up  the  course  at  the  Washington 
Square  branch  of  the  New  York  University  designed  especially 
for  bank  clerks. 

The  demands  of  the  different  houses  upon  their  statistical 
departments  are  so  varied  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  map  out 
a  course  of  study  to  fit  one  exactly  for  every  position  offered.  In 
a  general  way  it  may  be  said  that  a  study  of  the  principles  of 
political  economy,  a  course  in  higher  mathematics  with  a  knowl- 


BUSINESS  195 

edge  of  accountancy,  especially  of  railroad  accounts,  would  be 
essential.  Some  knowledge  of  law  would  be  most  helpful.  There 
is  also  recommended  a  study  of  the  financial  history  of  the  United 
States  and  of  foreign  countries,  a  familiarity  with  the  publications 
issued  by  the  different  departments  of  the  Federal  and  State 
governments,  reports  on  commerce  and  navigation,  crop  reports, 
reports  issued  by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  and  the 
reports  of  railroad  and  industrial  corporations. 

To  those  who  desire  to  train  for  this  special  work,  it  may  be 
said  that,  while  it  is  interesting,  it  is  also  exacting.  The  hours 
are  not  those  commonly  known  as  banking  hours;  i.e.,  from  10  A.M. 
to  3  P.M.  On  the  contrary,  there  will  be  many  days  when  from 
9  to  6  will  not  be  long  enough  to  accomplish  the  required 
tasks. 

In  order  to  insure  the  mental  alertness,  the  quickness  of  com- 
prehension, and  the  clear  thinking  and  reasoning  power  essential 
to  enable  one  to  answer  any  and  all  manner  of  questions  and  to 
grapple  with  financial  problems,  much  self-denial  must  be  exer- 
cised :  there  must  be  a  minimum  of  social  gayety  and  a  maximum 
of  rest  to  preserve  the  nerve  centres. 

Compensation  will  depend  upon  how  valuable  the  incumbent 
can  make  herself  to  her  employers.  The  average  is  probably 
from  $750  to  $2,000,  with  a  vacation  of  from  two  to  three  weeks 
in  the  summer. 


REAL  ESTATE 

MRS.  M.  E.  ALEXANDER 

REAL  ESTATE  AGENT  AND  BROKER,  NEW  YORK 

The  purpose  of  this  article  is  to  set  forth  as  briefly  as  pos- 
sible such  information  about  the  real  estate  business  as  will 
be  of  particular  assistance  to  the  woman  who  is  considering  a 
choice  of  occupation. 

THE  NATURE  OF  THE  WORK. 

The  real  estate  business  embraces  the  following:  buying, 
selling,  exchanging,  leasing,  managing,  appraising,  mortgaging, 


196  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

auctioning,  financing,  and  building.  The  business  is  divided 
into  two  branches,  brokerage  and  agency,  and  then  subdivided 
generally  into  specialties,  the  whole  being  carried  on  by  either 
the  broker  or  the  agent,  who  is  the  connecting  link  between  the 
owner  and  the  purchaser.  Property  is  bought  and  sold  by  the 
investor,  the  speculator, — better  termed  the  operator, — and  by 
the  prospective  resident.  The  broker  acts  for  the  investor,  the 
speculator,  and  the  prospective  resident  in  buying,  selling,  and 
exchanging;  the  agent,  in  leasing,  managing,  and  mortgaging; 
and  either  the  broker  or  agent,  generally  specializing,  acts  in 
appraising,  mortgaging,  auctioning,  financing,  and  building. 

QUALIFICATIONS  AND  TRAINING  NECESSARY. 

A  woman  desiring  to  enter  this  profession  should  possess  the 
realty  instinct,  combined  with  a  commercial  and  legal  mind, 
energy,  application,  method,  punctuality,  accuracy,  despatch, 
integrity,  breadth  of  view,  and  self-reliance.  These,  added  to  her 
natural  keen  intuition,  initiative,  and  attention  to  detail,  par- 
ticularly adapt  her  to  the  real  estate  business. 

The  qualifications  of  the  broker  and  agent  are  similar,  in  that 
they  both  should  possess  the  above  characteristics,  be  skilful 
in  arguments  of  fact,  and  be  able  to  sum  up  accurately  the  prin- 
cipals' points  of  view,  to  overcome  objections,  and  to  determine 
and  fix  values  and  the  conditions  which  detract  from  them.  The 
broker  must  have  ideas,  and  be  able  to  work  out  new  uses  for  prop- 
erties, to  recognize  the  psychological  moment  when  two  minds 
meet,  and  at  that  instant  be  able  to  draw  up  and  secure  the  sign- 
ing of  a  contract.  Brokers  who  are  clever  at  closing  contracts 
at  a  moment's  notice  possess  a  most  valuable  asset.  The  agent 
must  be  equipped  with  the  happy  faculty  of  quick  perception 
in  appreciating  the  requirements  of  a  prospective  tenant,  and 
have  sound  judgment  in  securing  tenants;  must  have  executive 
ability,  mechanical  sense,  be  able  to  attend  skilfully  to  a  great 
number  of  uninteresting  details,  and  be  thoroughly  posted  on  gen- 
eral real  estate  conditions.  The  mere  ability  to  collect  rents  is 
not  sufficient. 

Helpful  theoretical  training  can  be  obtained  by  attending  a 
series  of  lectures  given  in  one  of  the  Eastern  universities  from 


BUSINESS  197 

September  to  May  of  each  year,  covering  the  particular  subjects 
of  the  work,  such  as  landlord  and  tenant,  contracts,  leases,  taxes 
and  assessments,  building  code,  deeds,  bonds  and  mortgages,  and 
the  duties  of  a  broker  and  agent.  A  course  in  real  property 
law  will  assist  materially. 

Considerable  knowledge  may  also  be  obtained  by  reading  the 
different  articles  on  real  estate  found  in  the  Record  and  Guide 
and  in  most  daily  newspapers,  the  New  York  Herald  making  a 
special  feature  of  the  real  estate  section.  The  following  text- 
books would  also  be  helpful, — Principles  of  City  Land  Values, 
Real  Property  Law,  Contracts,  Landlord  and  Tenants  including 
Summary  Proceedings.  Like  any  other  profession,  the  lectures 
and  readings  cannot  replace  the  curriculum  of  the  school  of  act- 
ual experience,  which  is  absolutely  the  first  rung,  no  matter  what 
may  be  in  store  farther  up  the  ladder. 

OPPORTUNITIES. 

Suburban  land  companies  offer  to  both  men  and  women 
opportunities  to  sell  plots  to  residence  buyers,  this  being  a  step- 
ping-stone to  larger  work.  Of  course,  to  get  the  actual  office 
experience,  it  is  necessary  to  become  directly  connected  with  a 
real  estate  firm,  taking  up  the  Agency  Branch,  as  this  is  the  first 
and  most  valuable  step,  and  women  seem  to  make  better  agents 
than  men. 

COMMISSION  v.  SALARY. 

Returns  are  realized  only  when  actual  work  is  consummated, 
being  based  on  commission  and  not  salaries.  The  first  essential 
to  the  hope  of  compensation  is  stick-to-it-iveness.  Unless  one 
possesses  a  large  supply  of  the  above  qualification,  the  delayed 
opportunity  at  the  beginning  is  apt  to  discourage.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  luck  of  an  unusually  large  first  transaction  is  question- 
able, often  bringing  discouragement  if  the  standard  is  not  main- 
tained. This,  however,  is  more  beneficial  as  consolation  in  the 
former  contingency  than  as  a  warning  in  the  latter. 

It  is  difficult  to  state  the  amount  one  could  earn  per  year, — 
conservatively  speaking,  about  $900  the  first  year.  Of  course, 
one  is  just  as  likely  to  make  considerably  more  or  less. 


198  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

Women  heretofore  have  not  been  given  an  equal  opportunity 
with  men,  but  are  becoming  more  and  more  recognized  in  this 
business.  There  is  a  large  field  for  women  of  ability,  ability  being 
the  only  passport. 


INSURANCE 
EDNA  BLANCHARD  LEWIS 

INSURANCE  BROKER,  WOMAN'S  INSURANCE  DEPARTMENT,  NEW  YORK 

Insurance  was  my  choice  upon  entering  a  business  life  after 
ten  years  of  teaching,  first  of  all  because  I  most  firmly  believed 
in  it,  and  had  seen  the  great  benefit  to  those  who  had  occasion 
to  prove  its  worth.  A  strong  additional  reason  was  that  there 
is  always  more  or  less  demand  for  insurance  in  one  line  or  an- 
other. 

In  undertaking  the  insurance  business,  a  beginning  may  be  made 
by  becoming  an  agent  for  some  company.  An  agent  works 
for  one  company  only,  and  is  employed  by  that  particular  com- 
pany under  a  commission  or  perhaps  a  salary,  the  earnings  de- 
pending, of  course,  entirely  upon  his  interest  and  good  manage- 
ment of  the  business.  After  a  certain  amount  of  experience  the 
agent  may  become  a  broker.  A  broker  operates  for  all  companies 
in  the  interest  of  the  assured,  having  a  license  so  to  do  from  the 
State  or  States  where  business  is  carried  on.  In  case  of  a  differ- 
ence in  the  settlement  of  claims  the  broker  stands  between  the 
assured  and  the  company,  and  takes  the  entire  responsibility  of 
a  harmonious  settlement.  This  responsibility  should  be  clearly 
understood  and  reflected  upon  before  entering  the  insurance 
field,  either  as  an  agent  or  as  a  broker.  The  broker's  income, 
like  that  of  the  agent,  depends  upon  the  number  of  customers  and 
the  amount  of  insurance  carried  by  each.  A  broker  has  more 
influence  than  an  agent,  because  the  various  companies  are  com- 
peting for  any  business  he  may  send  in  or  control,  while  the 
agent  belongs  to  only  one  company. 

Among  the  various  kinds  of  insurance  policies  written  are  fire, 
life,  endowment,  burglary,  disability,  plate  glass,  and  marine  (car- 


BUSINESS  199 

goes  and  vessels),  etc.  To  the  woman  just  entering  the  insur- 
ance business  the  value  of  specialization  in  some  form  or  other 
is  to  be  particularly  commended.  The  expert  in  fire  or  life  insur- 
ance, the  adept  in  endowment  or  annuities,  is  too  seldom  found 
among  agents  and  even  brokers.  In  connection  with  insurance 
of  any  sort  there  always  comes  the  opportunity  to  operate  real 
estate  in  its  various  forms, — the  collection  of  rents,  the  renting 
of  houses  and  stores,  and  the  selling  and  buying  of  properties. 

To  the  college  woman  who  is  starting  out  there  is  no  special 
training  school  along  insurance  lines.  She  must  get  the  actual 
experience  from  actual  work.  An  important  feature  of  this 
work  is  going  about  and  arranging  for  interviews  with  prospec- 
tive policy-holders.  Possible  customers  may  be  selected  from 
among  personal  acquaintances,  to  start  with,  or  from  members  of 
some  profession, — doctors,  lawyers,  or  teachers.  The  interviews 
must  in  any  case  be  planned  with  system  and  forethought.  I 
was  "started  out"  years  ago  with  a  rate  book  from  one  of  the  large 
life  insurance  companies,  and  could  only  be  sure  of  my  facts  and 
figures.  What  to  say  and  how  to  say  it  was  left  entirely  to  my 
own  judgment,  and  my  income  depended  entirely  upon  the  num- 
ber of  policies  written.  From  this  experience  I  would  suggest 
that  helpful  subjects  would  be  special  training  in  mathematics, 
logic,  ethics,  and  psychology. 

There  are  to-day  comparatively  few  women  in  the  insurance 
work,  but  there  are  many  opportunities  for  those  who  are  earnest 
and  capable.  Such  women  would,  without  a  doubt,  build  up 
a  successful  business  in  a  comparatively  short  time.  It  takes 
capital  to  establish  such  a  business,  but  if  for  a  period,  say 
a  year  or  so,  a  beginning  is  made  with  a  company  as  a  special 
agent,  it  will  not  be  long  before  the  commissions  will  permit 
of  the  establishment  of  an  office.  Women  have  written  insur- 
ance successfully  and  extensively  in  Boston,  Philadelphia,  New 
York,  Chicago,  and  throughout  the  entire  East  and  West. 
There  is  plenty  of  room  for  brokerage  firms  to  be  established 
and  operated  by  women,  either  in  large  cities  or  small  ones. 
The  country  town  also  affords  a  fine  opportunity  for  a  general 
agency  of  several  different  lines  of  the  work.  Special  agencies 
are  given  upon  application  by  any  company  or  companies, 


200  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

provided  all  vacancies  in  the  proposed  district  have  not  been 
filled.  No  salary  is  allowed  under  such  circumstances,  but  as 
only  one  agency  is  established  in  one  town,  the  monopoly 
of  the  business  is  assured  when  the  appointment  is  made.  Any 
responsible  person  who  has  had  a  year  or  more  of  experience 
in  writing  policies  or  as  an  agent,  and  has  thereby  received  a 
broker's  license  from  his  State,  may  be  appointed. 

I  should  estimate  as  a  fair  average  earning  $800  to  $1,000  yearly 
to  start  with,  and  from  $1,500  to  $4,000  or  $5,000  to  one  who 
has  become  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  details  of  the  busi- 
ness and  has  established  a  good  patronage.  It  is  not  easy  work, 
but  the  income  will  always  be  commensurate  with  the  efforts 
made  and  with  the  ability  to  produce.  In  rare  cases  salaries  are 
given  by  the  various  companies,  but  only  to  experienced  workers. 
The  highest  yearly  income  yet  reached  by  a  woman  in  this  line 
is,  I  believe,  $10,000. 

The  insurance  business  needs  the  influence  of  the  strong,  open- 
minded,  enthusiastic,  and  intellectual  woman.  It  needs  women 
whose  aim  is  not  limited  to  financial  success,  however  sure  that 
may  be,  but  reaches  rather  to  a  high  desire  to  be  of  real  service 
to  others,  and  to  prove  beyond  a  question  the  worth  of  the 
vocation. 


VI 
CLERICAL  AND   SECRETARIAL  WORK 


THE  COLLEGE  WOMAN  AS  SECRETARY 

SARAH  LOUISE  AHNOLD 

DEAN  OF  SIMMONS  COLLEGE,  BOSTON 

In  no  field  are  the  duties  more  variable  than  in  that  accorded 
to  the  secretary.  The  so-called  secretary  may  address  envelopes 
all  day  or  she  may  dictate  original  letters  to  a  score  of  clerks. 
She  may  do  one  thing  exactly  as  she  is  told  from  Monday  morning 
to  Saturday  night  or  she  may  organize,  control,  and  initiate. 
Her  immediate  task,  then,  may  demand  only  a  limited  experience 
and  training  or  it  may  make  use  of  the  broadest  possible  culture, 
the  finest  personality,  and  the  utmost  executive  ability.  Obvi- 
ously, the  one  who  is  fitted  only  for  the  minor  position  will  never 
advance.  It  is  likewise  true  that  the  secretary  who  is  equal  to 
the  greatest  task  may  often  find  herself  required  to  perform  the 
humblest,  and  if  she  is  really  capable,  she  will  turn  cheerfully 
from  one  phase  of  her  work  to  the  other,  finding  advantage  in 
either  experience. 

The  writer  has  been  asked  to  present  this  problem  as  it  has 
appeared  in  the  office  of  a  college  whose  purpose  is  to  prepare 
women  for  self-maintenance.  A  large  group  of  its  students  is 
pursuing  a  course  of  study  which  prepares  them  for  secretarial 
duties.  Its  graduates  are  at  work  as  secretaries,  and  some  light 
is  thrown  upon  the  present  question  by  their  experience  and  by 
the  demands  made  upon  the  college  for  further  service. 

The  determination  to  include  this  school  in  the  college  was  the 
result  of  conferences  in  which  men  of  affairs  had  expressed  the 
belief  that  secretaries  could  not  be  adequately  trained  without 
the  college  opportunity.  In  these  conferences  it  had  been  often 

201 


202  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

stated  that  technique  was  useless  unless  supported  by  a  broad 
general  training.  In  other  words,  the  hand  of  the  typewriter  was 
useless  without  the  head,  and  was  valuable  in  proportion  to  the 
intellect  which  guided  it.  It  was  determined,  therefore,  to  outline 
a  four  years'  course  for  college  women,  which  should  make  them 
ready  for  secretarial  work.  Provision  was  made  further  for  a 
one-year  technical  program  for  college  graduates.  The  longer 
curriculum  included  adequate  courses  in  English,  modern  lan- 
guages, science,  history,  economics,  philosophy,  etc.,  with  the 
added  technical  training  which  the  task  in  itself  dictates, — sten- 
ography, typewriting,  book-keeping,  business  methods.  These 
tasks  were  so  arranged  as  to  develop  habit  and  tendency,  as  well 
as  mere  knowledge  of  technique.  In  the  briefer  course  only 
technical  subjects  were  provided,  since  it  was  intended  for 
students  who  had  already  completed  a  four  years'  college  course. 

The  demand  for  workers  who  had  had  this  preparation  showed 
at  once  that  the  theory  advanced  by  the  early  advisers  is  generally 
accepted  by  intelligent  employers.  Evidently  the  employer  feels 
that  it  is  to  his  advantage  to  have  the  period  of  apprenticeship 
in  his  office  shortened  by  appropriate  secretarial  training.  He 
likewise  looks  forward  with  some  hope  to  the  larger  understanding 
which  is  assured  by  a  college  education. 

The  event  has  proved  not  only  that  there  is  a  large  demand, 
but  that  this  demand  is  of  infinite  variety.  The  economist  de- 
sires a  secretary  who  will  understand  the  alphabet  of  his  subject, 
who  will  easily  take  dictation  and  correctly  transcribe,  who  will 
also  help  him  to  secure  material,  will  classify  documents  and  data 
with  judgment  as  well  as  accuracy,  and  will  become  expert  in  his 
particular  field.  At  the  same  time  all  the  lesser  correspondence 
must  be  carried  on,  library  and  office  must  be  in  order,  and  many 
minor  details  must  be  kept  in  hand.  The  physician  makes  a 
similar  demand,  expecting  intelligence  concerning  biology  and 
chemistry,  and  possibly  some  aptitude  in  nursing,  while  here,  too, 
correspondence  and  accounts  will  be  emphasized,  and  the  secretary 
is  expected  to  preside  with  tact  and  judgment  over  the  telephone 
and  even  the  door-bell.  The  publisher  requires  an  army  of  sec- 
retaries of  varying  capacities,  ranging  from  mere  routine  to  execu- 
tive skill  and  paid  accordingly.  The  lawyer  demands  a  different 


CLERICAL  AND  SECRETARIAL  WORK  203 

vocabulary,  and  insists  upon  absolute  accuracy.  Here,  also, 
swiftness  is  in  demand,  and  the  expert  who  is  able  to  report  court 
proceedings  without  error  may  receive  large  compensation.  The 
college  calls  for  a  registrar  or  secretary  who  shall  be  familiar  with 
problems  of  both  curriculum  and  administration,  who  shall  deal 
graciously  with  the  public  and  with  the  college  constituency,  who 
shall  understand  the  problems  of  the  individual  students  and  the 
anxieties  of  father  and  mother.  Yet  here,  too,  the  daily  routine 
may  often  involve  many  simple  tasks  repeated  over  and  over. 
The  business  woman  requires  a  secretary  who  is  accomplished  in 
social  correspondence  as  well  as  in  business  matters,  who  is  accu- 
rate in  filing,  able  to  look  up  subjects  at  the  library,  ready  to  do 
an  errand  down  town  or  even  to  mend  her  gloves.  It  is  evident 
that  the  demand  upon  the  secretary  varies  not  only  with  the 
business,  but  with  the  employer.  Success  may  depend,  then, 
quite  as  much  upon  individual  characteristics  as  upon  technical 
training. 

Experience  further  shows  that  the  qualifications  of  the  secretary 
are:  first,  character;  second,  personality;  third,  general  educa- 
tion; fourth,  technique.  The  order  of  the  statement  is  inten- 
tional; it  is  virtually  a  summary  of  the  evidence  secured  in 
conferences  with  employers  and  in  reports  from  the  field. 

The  character  of  the  secretary  is  indicated  by  the  largest  de- 
mands to  be  made  upon  her.  Whether  her  work  is  small  or  great, 
she  should  be  absolutely  trustworthy.  The  work  of  her  office  is 
a  private  affair,  not  on  any  terms  to  be  communicated  to  others; 
what  she  hears  and  transmits  she  must  not  tell, — it  is  not  hers  to 
give  away.  She  must,  therefore,  have  a  fine  sense  of  honor,  to 
be  worthy  of  trust.  Further,  she  must  have  joy  in  service  as  such; 
she  cannot  succeed  if  her  first  desire  is  to  be  "let  out"  when  the 
clock  strikes  five.  She  must  have,  also,  a  sense  of  social  respon- 
sibility, and  must  clearly  recognize  the  relation  of  her  task  to  the 
general  welfare.  In  fact,  she  must  almost  over-emphasize  the 
importance  of  this,  so  that  she  may  not  substitute  personal  con- 
venience and  privilege  for  the  work  which  she  has  promised  to 
fulfil.  No  one  need  expect  to  succeed  as  a  secretary  in  any  re- 
sponsible position  unless  this  character  is  assured. 

By  personality  we  mean  all  the  gracious  gifts  which  home,  school, 


204  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

friends,  and  other  great  factors  of  environment  have  bestowed 
upon  fortunate  individuals,  or — shall  we  say,  which  individuals 
have  won  from  their  environment.  The  ability  to  deal  easily 
and  pleasantly  with  the  various  persons  with  whom  one  is  brought 
in  contact  is  indispensable  to  the  secretary.  Invariably  courteous, 
gentle,  cheerful,  tactful,  sunny,  courageous,  optimistic,  she  creates 
the  atmosphere  of  the  office.  When  hearing  dictation,  she  is 
silent  even  under  hesitation  or  repetition.  She  does  not  intrude 
comments  on  the  weather  into  the  sermon  or  thesis  which  she  is 
transcribing.  While  serving  as  the  stenographer,  she  is  merely 
the  channel  for  the  message,  and  her  own  personality  for  the  time 
being  is  lost  in  the  impersonal  act.  At  the  same  time  she  never 
fails  to  perceive  anything  which  would  add  to  the  convenience 
of  her  employer,  never  forgets  appointments  or  other  items  of 
business  interest,  brings  order  out  of  disorder,  and  in  general 
makes  good  deficiencies  without  seeming  to  notice  them. 

These  various  abilities  indicate  the  power  of  losing  one's  self 
in  the  interest  of  another  and  finding  pleasure  in  the  act  and  art 
of  service.  Imagination  is  helpful  here,  and  the  person  who  has 
been  accustomed  to  the  courtesies  of  a  refined  home  has  here  a 
great  advantage. 

It  is  evident  from  the  description  of  the  variety  of  the  positions 
awaiting  the  secretary  that  general  education  is  indispensable. 
The  stenographer  may  be  master  of  machine  and  sign,  yet  utterly 
ignorant  of  the  subject  with  which  the  employer  is  concerned. 
When  a  sentence  has  once  been  dictated,  it  is  recalled  only  by  the 
stenographic  sign.  If  the  words  are  completely  new,  any  hesita- 
tion causes  the  secretary  to  ransack  her  vocabulary  in  search  of 
the  right  word.  It  is  evident  that,  if  her  training  has  been  meagre, 
the  vocabulary  fails  to  respond,  for  "words  are  the  signs  of  ideas," 
and  naturally  refuse  to  appear  when  the  ideas  are  totally  lacking. 

No  subject  of  study  is,  therefore,  remote  or  without  use  to  the 
secretary:  she  must  always  be  a  student  of  English  for  the  sake 
of  clearness  of  expression  and  style,  as  well  as  understanding; 
history  is  indispensable,  if  she  is  to  deal  with  educated  persons; 
languages  reinforce  her  English;  science  increases  her  vocabu- 
lary and  lends  clearness  and  definiteness.  Nothing  comes  amiss. 
Aside  from  the  knowledge  gained,  the  training  of  the  college  should 


CLERICAL  AND  SECRETARIAL  WORK  205 

have  left  her  with  a  mind  apt  to  learn  its  new  lessons  and  ready  to 
be  taught.  If  she  is  well  educated,  she  will  take  up  her  new 
work  with  spirit,  rejoicing  in  every  new  thing  to  be  learned,  eager 
to  follow  the  new  path  and  to  achieve  new  tasks.  It  is  the 
timbre  of  the  trained  mind  which  counts,  quite  as  much  as  the 
knowledge  which  it  is  supposed  to  bring. 

Fourth  in  the  list  of  essentials  we  have  placed  technique.  It 
goes  without  saying  that,  other  things  being  equal,  technical 
skill  will  determine  the  rapidity  of  advancement  and  ability  to 
hold  the  position.  Every  secretary  should  write  a  good,  clear, 
legible  hand.  This  requirement  is  indispensable,  and  is,  unhap- 
pily, difficult  to  secure.  The  long-hand  is  as  necessary  as  the  short- 
hand. In  the  latter  art,  however,  speed  and  accuracy  are  essen- 
tial. Of  course,  accuracy  comes  first.  This  having  been  secured, 
so  that  the  writer  is  trustworthy,  technically  speaking,  every 
gain  in  speed  multiplies  the  value  of  the  secretary  to  the  em- 
ployer. If  twice  as  many  letters  can  be  taken  in  an  hour,  the 
secretary  is  twice  as  valuable.  Everything  which  costs  the  em- 
ployer's time  diminishes  the  value  of  the  secretary.  Here,  then, 
is  a  good  reason  for  the  painstaking  which  results  in  technical 
skill. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  the  secretary  who  possesses  the  charac- 
teristics named,  who  has  all  the  abilities  described,  will  be  in  great 
demand.  During  a  public  conference  concerning  the  opportu- 
nities for  college  women  a  gentleman  once  asked  what  such  a 
secretary  would  earn.  Instantly  a  business  man  sprang  to  his 
feet,  and  replied:  "Please  say  that  such  a  woman  would  release 
$10,000  time.  She  should  be  paid  accordingly." 

A  little  thought  given  to  this  reply  will  indicate  why  the  char- 
acteristics referred  to  are  indispensable  to  the  secretary.  The 
college  woman  who  is  preparing  for  such  duties  should  hold  before 
her  this  ideal  of  the  secretary's  task. 


206  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 


CLERICAL  AND  SECRETARIAL  WORK 

HELEN  M.  KELSEY 

MANAGER,  FIFTH  AVENUE  AGENCT,  NEW  YOBK 

Fully  nine-tenths  of  the  "clerical  and  secretarial  positions'* 
to  which  a  college  girl  would  be  attracted  are  entered  by  means 
of  a  knowledge  of  stenography  and  typewriting.  The  other  tenth, 
such  as  those  requiring  book-keeping,  accounting,  statistical  work, 
etc.,  may  be  dismissed  from  consideration  in  this  article. 

There  are  many  and  varied  openings  for  the  college  girl  in 
secretarial  work  proper.  She  may  be  secretary  in  a  school, 
where  her  duties  include,  besides  the  writing  of  letters  from  dic- 
tation, the  keeping  of  school  records,  the  making  out  of  reports, 
and  the  daily  accounting,  though  rarely  any  book-keeping.  Some- 
times, of  course,  the  school  secretary  is,  properly  speaking,  the 
private  secretary  of  the  principal,  in  which  case  her  duties  may  be 
classed  with  those  of  the  secretary  to  any  individual,  whether  he 
be  principal,  professor,  doctor,  or  philanthropist.  Besides  these 
openings  in  professional  circles,  there  are  a  few  of  what  may  be 
called  "semi-literary"  positions,  such  as  those  in  publishing 
houses,  in  which  a  college  woman  may  gradually  attain  to  posi- 
tions of  a  good  deal  of  responsibility  in  reading  manuscript, 
editing,  etc.  Here  she  is  doing  a  bit  of  original  work  which  may 
in  the  end  absorb  her  to  the  exclusion  of  her  purely  secretarial 
duties.  Along  this  line  is  the  work  with  large  philanthropic  and 
religious  organizations,  where  a  secretary  may  assist  the  head 
of  a  department,  working  at  his  direction,  and  also,  in  his  absence, 
assuming  the  direction  of  the  office  routine.  From  this  subor- 
dinate position  the  woman  of  good  judgment  may  advance  in 
time  to  the  headship  of  a  department  or  to  the  charge  of  a  smaller 
independent  organization.  Aside  from  these  there  is  a  wide 
but  less  well-known  field  for  those  who  are  attracted  by  it  in  the 
purely  commercial  world.  The  generation  of  college  men  that 
are  coming  more  and  more  to  the  front  in  business  appreciates 
the  value  of  the  trained  mind,  and  with  the  tendency  toward 


CLERICAL  AND  SECRETARIAL  WORK  207 

greater  specialization  in  all  lines  demands  secretaries  who  can 
be  depended  upon  to  act  with  judgment. 

All  the  positions  described  above  merit  this  special  mention 
here  because  the  college  education  per  se  is  the  fundamental  ele- 
ment of  value.  It  gives  a  background  which  makes  possible  an 
intelligent  grasp  of  the  details  of  the  particular  occupation, 
whether  it  is  education,  publication,  philanthropy,  or  commerce. 
But  let  the  graduate  remember  that  her  college  education  is  but 
the  background.  It  must  be  supplemented  by  special  training 
and  by  acquaintance  with  business  methods. 

Acquaintance  with  business  methods  the  individual  employer 
expects  her  to  gain  under  his  direction,  but  special  training  she 
must  acquire  by  further  study.  In  practice  the  employer  expects 
his  new  employee  to  take  time  to  learn  the  details  of  his  business, 
but  he  demands  that  she  "earn  her  salt"  in  the  mean  time,  and 
his  idea  is  that  she  does  both  most  effectively  by  taking  corre- 
spondence. The  conclusion  is  clear:  the  woman  who  enters 
business  does  so  most  easily  through  the  open  door  of  stenog- 
raphy. 

Let  her,  then,  choose  a  good  school, — one  in  which  the  instruc- 
tion is  individual,  so  that  she  need  not  be  held  back  by  other 
pupils  who  start  less  well  equipped, — and  let  her  put  her  whole 
mind  to  acquiring  an  accurate  knowledge  of  stenography  and 
typewriting.  For  the  college  woman  the  important  acquirement 
is  not  at  first  speed,  but  rather  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
principles,  so  that  her  notes  may  be  absolutely  accurate  and  read- 
able. In  the  class  of  position  she  will  enter,  not  bulk  of  output, 
but  quality,  is  the  first  requirement.  The  number  of  months 
required  to  gain  a  practical  command  of  stenography  varies  so 
greatly  with  individual  aptitude  that  generalization  is  danger- 
ous. In  rare  cases  a  student  may  acquire  a  practical  knowledge 
of  short-hand — i.e.,  what  is  called  "letter  speed" — in  from  four 
to  six  months.  But  this  length  of  time  presupposes  both  apti- 
tude and  application,  and  certainly  no  shorter  time  should  be 
counted  upon.  Disappointment  and  ultimate  loss  of  time  are 
sure  to  follow  too  hasty  a  course. 

Given,  then,  a  college  education  and  a  working  knowledge  of 
stenography,  is  success  assured?  By  no  means;  for  one  important 


208  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

element  of  success  in  this  line,  as  in  any  other,  is  the  indefinable 
quality  called  "personality,"  and  another  element  is  the  individ- 
ual's attitude  toward  her  work.  Promotion  in  the  business  world 
is  not  a  matter  of  routine;  it  goes  to  the  one  who  deserves  it, 
be  she  an  old  or  a  new  employee,  a  college  girl  or  "self-made." 
The  college  girl,  then,  must  start  with  the  rest,  and  win  her  way 
by  sheer  merit  and  ability.  The  chance  is  to  the  one  who  does 
not  refuse  a  beginning,  however  small,  and  who  realizes  that  her 
position  is  what  she  makes  it. 

The  question  as  to  what  constitutes  a  small  beginning  in  terms 
of  salary  is  difficult  to  answer,  since  this  must  always  be  gauged 
by  the  current  cost  of  living.  One  college  graduate,  for  instance, 
saw  the  advantage  to  her  of  a  position  in  New  York  offering  only 
$8  a  week,  and  within  two  years  she  had  advanced  gradually 
with  the  same  organization  to  a  position  paying  $20  a  week,  her 
average  salary  during  the  two  years  having  been  probably  about 
$15.  But  in  most  cases  a  beginner  is  not  expected  to  take  less 
than  the  current  living  wage,  about  $50  per  month  according  to 
New  York  standards.  From  this  the  advance  depends  almost 
entirely  upon  individual  aptitude,  upon  the  secretary's  ability  to 
make  herself  valuable.  Unlike  the  teacher,  she  is  usually  not 
bound  to  a  yearly  contract,  and  may  have  her  salary  raised 
several  times  in  twelve  months.  She  may,  and  probably  will,  if 
she  is  of  average  ability,  soon  be  worth  $65  per  month,  and  get 
it;  and  there  is  no  maximum  limit  for  the  secretary  who  can  make 
herself  indispensable.  A  fair  salary  for  a  private  secretary  is 
$1,200,  and  the  woman  secretary  of  one  philanthropist  has 
received  $10,000  per  year. 

Unlimited  opportunity  lies  before  the  one  who  will  remember 
that  merit  counts  in  this  line  of  work  more  than  in  almost  any 
other.  A  woman  equipped  with  a  college  education,  some  tech- 
nical preparation,  and  above  all  with  that  confidence  in  her  own 
ability  to  "make  good"  which  makes  her  willing  to  start  low 
and  earn  her  way,  has  the  world  before  her. 


CLERICAL  AND  SECRETARIAL  WORK  »'  209 


THE  PRIVATE  SECRETARY 

ANNE  PILLSBURY  ANDERSON 

FORMERLY  PRIVATE  SECRETARY  TO  HON.  JOSEPH  H.  CHOATE 

The  duties  of  a  private  secretary  have  been  gilded  to  such  an 
extent  by  the  popular  novelists  and  playwrights  that  the  prevail- 
ing idea  among  the  uninitiated  is  that  letter- writing  in  a  fair  hand 
constitutes  the  most  difficult  of  the  tasks  imposed,  and  that,  when 
not  occupied  with  correspondence,  the  secretary  stands  in  effec- 
tive attitudes  in  a  more  or  less  well-lighted  background.  How- 
ever familiar  this  may  be  in  theory,  practice  speedily  pin-pricks 
this  peaceful  and  alluring  bubble. 

A  thoroughly  successful  secretary  is  born  quite  as  much  as 
made,  as  the  corner-stone  upon  which  all  attainments  rest  is 
composed  equally  of  the  ability  of  keeping  secrets  as  deeply  buried 
as  the  treasures  of  an  unknown  Egyptian  tomb  and  a  well-devel- 
oped sixth  sense.  To  this  foundation  must  be  added  method  and 
neatness  and  as  many  virtues  as  one  poor  mortal  can  muster, 
tact,  courtesy,  and  self-control  being  not  the  least  among  them. 
As  to  practical  attainments,  it  is  necessary  that  one  should  have 
as  broad  an  education  as  possible,  a  thorough  knowledge  of  stenog- 
raphy and  typewriting  and  also  of  a  cataloguing  or  card  index 
system.  As  the  requirements  of  each  position  vary,  there  can 
be  no  hard-and-fast  rule  of  what  should  be  studied  in  the  so-called 
"commercial  course"  other  than  the  above. 

The  best  method  of  obtaining  the  practical  training,  which  is 
an  absolute  essential,  is  to  enter  a  busy  office  as  stenographer  to 
a  member  of  a  firm  or  officer  of  a  corporation.  In  the  majority 
of  cases  a  stenographer  grows  into  a  secretary  gradually,  a  busy 
man  being  only  too  thankful  to  throw  into  competent  hands  the 
details  which  are  too  vexatious  and  petty  for  his  considera- 
tion. As  this  preliminary  position  is  taken  as  a  means  to  ulti- 
mate secretarial  work,  it  is  quite  necessary  to  be  known  to  the 
members  of  the  firm  and  as  many  of  their  clients  as  possible  by 
cheerful,  accurate  work.  I  have  seldom  known  faithful,  satis- 


210  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

factory  service  to  go  unrewarded,  but  it  is  often  necessary  to  seek 
openings  for  advancement.  The  length  of  this  training  depends 
entirely  upon  natural  ability  and  upon  the  power  to  seize  and  make 
the  most  of  opportunities. 

As  to  compensation,  one  must  again  be  vague.  It  all  depends 
upon  the  circumstances  of  locality  and  requirements. 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  profession  less  controlled  by  routine 
than  that  of  a  private  secretary.  Each  day  differs  from  the  pre- 
ceding one,  and  there  is  never  a  dull  succession  of  drab  weeks. 
Instead,  the  brain  is  kept  alert  by  the  questions  and  perplexities 
of  the  hour,  and  the  ability  to  perform  the  daily  duties  "judg- 
matically"  grows  with  the  months  and  years  of  experience.  One 
year  at  least  is  required  as  a  probation  period  upon  entering  a 
new  position.  Until  a  twelvemonth  has  elapsed,  a  secretary  has 
not  learned  the  A,  B,  C,  of  the  countless  details  of  the  work  peculiar 
to  that  particular  post,  and  to  the  end  of  incumbency  each  day 
brings  fresh  lessons. 

If  there  is  the  slightest  expectation  of  a  rosy,  sunny  existence 
in  being  methodical  in  confused  surroundings,  neat  in  disorder, 
or  self -controlled  in  a  post  surging  with  problems,  stop  before 
beginning.  If  one  perseveres,  one  may  confidently  expect  to 
widen  one's  horizon,  deepen  one's  sympathies,  and  gain  an  unusual 
knowledge  of  men  and  affairs,  quite  impossible  in  the  majority 
of  professions. 


TRAINING  FOR  INITIATIVE  IN  SECRETARIAL  WORK 

ALICE  HARRIET  GRADY 

SECRETARY  TO  MR.  Louis  D.  BRANDEIS,  BOSTON 

Being  secretary  to  a  busy,  brainy  man  of  large  affairs  demands 
the  unremitting  energy  and  unstinted  devotion  of  a  woman  whose 
intelligence  and  sympathy  are  sufficiently  well  developed  to  enable 
her  to  appreciate  the  importance  of  the  undertakings  in  which 
he  is  engaged.  Mere  quickness  and  skill  will  not  make  the  ideal 
secretary. 


CLERICAL  AND  SECRETARIAL  WORK  211 

LENGTH  AND  KIND  OF  TRAINING. 

A  college  course  obviously  lays  the  foundation  for  a  quick  assimi- 
lation of  the  specific  knowledge  to  be  acquired  before  entering  a 
business  office.  Then  there  should  be  one  year  at  a  good  business 
college,  during  which,  besides  the  special  study  of  short-hand  and 
typewriting,  some  attention  should  be  given  to  elementary  book- 
keeping and  arithmetic  and  the  methods  of  banking,  also  partic- 
ular attention  to  spelling  and  punctuation.  The  knowledge  of 
how  to  file  papers,  transmit  telephone  messages,  and  perform 
the  numberless  duties  incident  to  office  life  is  best  acquired  by 
doing  them.  A  few  months'  experience  in  a  business  office  down 
town  will  be  found  more  valuable  than  any  institutional  train- 
ing, and  should  be  acquired,  even  though  the  applicant  finds 
it  necessary  to  offer  her  services  free  of  charge  for  a  short  time. 

PROBABLE  COST  OF  TRAINING. 

The  cost  of  one  year's  tuition  at  a  good  business  college  will 
probably  be  in  the  neighborhood  of  $150.  After  supplementing 
this  tuition  by  six  months  of  faithful  work  and  observation  as 
a  "substitute,"  the  candidate  should  be  worth  $10  a  week  as  a 
stenographer.  Now  begins  the  real  period  of  apprenticeship. 
During  the  next  four  years  there  will  be  ample  opportunity  for 
the  cultivation  of  "adaptability,"  as  she  seeks  to  adjust  her  life 
to  the  practical  world  of  affairs  in  which  she  finds  herself.  This 
is  all  a  part  of  the  training. 

She  must  not  be  discouraged  if  at  the  end  of  four  years  she 
still  finds  herself  in  receipt  of  a  small  salary.  The  four  years' 
specific  training  should  show  a  very  marked  increase  in  intellectual 
alertness  and  sympathetic  appreciation  of  the  undertakings  in 
which  her  employer  is  engaged;  and  it  is  with  this  key  that  she 
may  hope  to  unlock  the  door  to  the  position  of  confidential  sec- 
retary. If  at  the  end  of  ten  years,  however,  a  woman  who  has 
made  use  of  her  opportunities  for  service  is  not  receiving  a  salary 
of  at  least  $1,200  a  year,  it  is  time  for  her  to  make  a  critical  ex- 
amination of  herself  and  her  work,  and  find  out  the  reason  why. 
Her  increase  in  value  to  her  employer  and  his  business  from  this 
time  on,  while  it  depends  largely,  of  course,  upon  herself,  must 


212  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

also  depend  upon  his  ability  to  permit  her  to  be  useful.  Those 
women  who  are  now  filling  positions  as  confidential  secretaries 
are  still  considered  something  of  an  experiment,  and  there  are 
many  business  men  who  have  not  yet  grown  sufficiently  accus- 
tomed to  placing  confidence  in  a  woman's  discretion  and  ability 
to  enable  them  to  appreciate  her  possible  worth  in  business  and 
to  utilize  her  capabilities. 

CHARACTER  AND  SCOPE  OF  THE  WORK. 

The  duties  will  vary  with  the  business  or  profession  of  the  em- 
ployer, and  may  cover  activities  ranging  all  the  way  from  filling 
an  ink-well,  adding  a  column  of  figures,  making  appointments, 
or  figuring  a  percentage,  to  reporting  a  legislative  hearing.  In 
some  offices  they  may  include  ordering  office  supplies,  the  filing 
away  of  correspondence  and  other  important  papers,  books,  pam- 
phlets, maps,  charts,  etc.,  for  future  reference,  the  test  of  good 
filing  being,  of  course,  the  ability  to  find  a  document  immediately 
when  it  is  wanted. 

NUMBER  OF  OPENINGS  IN  BOSTON. 

In  my  opinion  there  will  continue  to  be  openings  in  Boston 
until  every  man  or  woman  in  the  city  transacting  a  business  of 
any  magnitude  has  an  assistant  whose  qualifications  I  shall  attempt 
to  outline. 

QUALIFICATIONS. 

System. — Punctuality,  thoroughness,  neatness,  method,  fore- 
thought, observation,  and  accuracy  naturally  group  themselves 
under  this  head. 

Education. — By  education  I  mean  not  the  facts  and  figures 
and  theories  dug  from  books  in  the  college  class-room,  but  the 
ability  to  apply  those  facts  and  theories  to  the  practical  affairs 
of  life.  The  importance  also  of  "general  information,"  culled 
nowadays  largely  from  newspapers  and  magazines,  is  not  to  be 
overlooked.  The  secretary  should  be  familiar  with  the  names  of 
the  prominent  people  in  her  own  community,  and  know  some- 
thing of  the  movements  in  which  they  are  interested.  She  should 
not  permit  herself  to  be  altogether  ignorant  of  what  the  people 


CLERICAL  AND  SECRETARIAL  WORK  213 

in  other  cities,  other  States,  and  other  countries  are  doing  towards 
making  current  history. 

Rectitude. — In  adapting  one's  self  to  "team  work,"  one  should 
not  forget  that  the  merging  of  minor  considerations  for  the  sake 
of  the  larger  cause  does  not  mean  a  deviation  from  one's  reso- 
lute adherence  to  one's  own  convictions  on  any  question  at  issue 
involving  a  matter  of  principle. 

Versatility. — The  work  of  the  stenographer  or  secretary  may 
demand  some  slight  knowledge  of  the  technicalities  of  many  busi- 
nesses. For  instance,  in  a  law  office  she  may  to-day  be  called 
upon  to  report  a  conference  between  men  in  the  medical  profes- 
sion. To-morrow  an  architect  may  desire  to  dictate  a  contract 
for  the  building  of  one  of  our  modern  beehives  of  industry.  The 
next  day  a  poultry  dealer  attempts  to  lay  before  counsel  in  the 
presence  of  a  stenographer  his  complaint  concerning  brooder- 
houses  and  incubators  on  his  chicken  farm.  In  each  case  our 
would-be  stenographer  discovers  herself  in  need  of  an  entirely  new 
vocabulary,  and  happy  is  the  woman  who  finds  that  she  is  mis- 
tress of  the  situation. 

In  the  average  office,  too,  the  personnel  is  constantly  changing, 
and  it  becomes  the  part  of  wisdom  for  the  stenographer  to  be 
sufficiently  familiar  with  the  duties  of  those  about  her  to  perform 
their  tasks,  if  occasion  requires  their  absence  or  some  unusual 
congestion  of  work  in  another  department  of  the  establishment 
requires  her  assistance  outside  of  her  own  prescribed  duties. 

Initiative. — This  quality  has  been  described  as  "the  ability  to 
do  the  right  thing  without  being  told."  Equally  valuable,  it 
seems  to  me,  is  the  ability  to  avoid  doing  the  wrong  thing 
without  being  told.  It  is  this  one  quality,  perhaps  more  than 
any  other,  that  differentiates  the  "stenographer"  from  the 
"secretary,"  which  terms  are  used  by  many  persons  as  though 
they  were  synonymous. 

Cheerfulness. — Under  this  head  must  be  included  sound  health 
and  a  well-nourished  body.  It  should  be  particularly  remem- 
bered that  it  is  not  so  much  what  one  does  as  the  way  one 
does  it  that  counts. 

Professional  Spirit. — A  transformation  would  be  wrought  in 
the  attitude  of  men  towards  women  in  business  if  the  women 


214  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

would  discipline  themselves  into  limiting  their  conversation  dur- 
ing business  hours  to  strictly  professional  topics!  The  aggregate 
increase  in  economic  efficiency  which  could  thus  be  realized  can 
hardly  be  estimated. 

A  sympathetic  appreciation  of  the  business  undertaking,  a 
gradual  merging  of  one's  self  into  the  community  life  about  one 
will  develop  that  esprit  de  corps  and  loyalty  to  one's  business 
associates  without  which  no  office  community  can  be  run  har- 
moniously or  successfully. 

Enthusiasm. — It  is  one  of  the  secrets  which  every  successful 
business  woman  learns  for  herself,  sooner  or  later,  that  the  con- 
fidence which  she  desires  to  inspire  grows  by  what  it  feeds  upon, 
and  that  an  enthusiastic  assumption  of  the  smaller  responsibilities 
of  to-day  invites  larger  responsibilities  on  the  morrow.  It  is  par- 
ticularly true  in  the  business  life  that  we  build  to-morrow  upon 
the  foundation  which  we  lay  to-day. 


VII 
LITERARY   WORK 


LIBRARY  WORK  FOR  WOMEN 

JOSEPHINE  ADAMS  RATHBONE 

INSTRUCTOR,  PRATT  INSTITUTE  LIBRARY  SCHOOL 

The  field  of  library  work  is  a  very  broad  one;  it  is  con- 
tinually enlarging,  and  no  corner  of  it  is  barred  from  women. 
The  more  important  positions  are  filled  by  men,  as  in  all  other 
professions,  and  this  will  probably  be  the  case  for  years  to  come, 
until  women's  executive  powers  have  been  trained  by  use;  but 
the  difference  between  the  positions  held  by  men  and  by  women 
is  one  of  degree,  not  of  kind,  and  there  is,  on  the  whole,  less  differ- 
ence between  the  highest  salaries  paid  to  men  and  to  women 
in  it  than  in  any  other  salaried  profession. 

The  educational  requirements  and  professional  training  nec- 
essary for  success  in  library  work  will  be  discussed  elsewhere. 
It  should  be  understood  that  the  conditions  set  forth  in  this  paper 
apply  to  those  who  have  had  or  who  desire  to  obtain  the  necessary 
preparation  for  efficient  service. 

For  our  purpose  we  will  consider  the  library  work  under  three 
heads:  Public  Libraries,  School  and  College  Libraries,  and 
Special  Libraries. 

PUBLIC  LIBRARIES. 

We  will  omit  from  consideration  the  village  libraries  of  less 
than  5,000  volumes.  These  can  seldom  afford  trained  assistants, 
and  many  of  them  are  administered  by  volunteers. 

The  librarian  of  the  library  of  from  5,000  to  100,000  volumes, 
of  which  there  are  about  2,000  in  the  United  States,  is  usually  a 

215 


216  VOCATIONS   FOR  THE  TRAINED   WOMAN 

woman.  She  has  the  opportunity  of  making  her  library  the  cen- 
tre of  the  educational  and  intellectual  life  of  the  community. 
She  comes  into  contact,  as  does  the  woman  in  no  other  occupa- 
tion, with  every  element  of  the  community, — with  the  school- 
children of  all  ages,  with  the  teachers,  with  business  and  profes- 
sional men,  with  women's  clubs,  and  with  organizations  of  all 
kinds.  It  is  her  business  to  study  the  community  and  find  out 
its  interests  and  its  needs,  to  select  books  to  meet  these  interests 
and  needs,  to  make  these  books  available  by  her  knowledge  of 
the  best  library  methods,  and  to  attract  people  to  the  library  by 
making  its  resources  known,  by  stimulating  an  interest  in  books, 
and  by  creating  an  atmosphere  of  culture,  of  hospitality,  and 
of  helpfulness  within  the  library  itself.  There  is  in  this  work 
scope  for  the  exercise  of  all  a  woman's  powers, — executive  ability, 
knowledge  of  books,  social  sympathies,  knowledge  of  human 
nature. 

The  salaries  for  trained  women  as  head  librarians  range  from 
$600  in  the  smaller  communities  to  $2,500  or  $3,000,  the  larger 
number  being  between  $900  and  $1,200. 

In  a  small  library  the  librarian  and  two  or  three  assistants 
do  all  the  various  kinds  of  work,  getting  the  books  ready  for 
use  and  serving  the  children  and  adults  who  come  to  the  library, 
but  in  the  larger  libraries  there  is  need  for  greater  specialization 
and  special  branches  of  the  work  have  developed.  Among  these 
are  administrative  work,  cataloguing,  reference  work,  circulat- 
ing department  work,  children's  work,  school  work,  each  de- 
manding workers  with  special  qualifications. 

The  chief  administrative  posts  in  large  libraries  are  for  the 
most  part  held  by  men,  though  there  are  a  number  of  women 
assistant  librarians  or  librarians'  secretaries  with  salaries  of 
from  $1,000  to  $2,000.  Administrative  in  character  also  are  the 
positions  of  librarians  of  branch  libraries,  of  which  there  are 
sixty  odd  in  Greater  New  York  alone,  practically  all  held  by 
women,  and  ranging  in  salary  from  $900  to  $1,500.  The  amount 
of  responsibility  resting  upon  the  branch  librarian  depends  on 
the  policy  of  the  system.  It  is,  generally  speaking,  somewhat 
less  than  that  of  the  librarian  of  an  independent  library  of  the 
same  size,  but  the  opportunities  for  usefulness  are  almost  as 


LITERARY  WORK  217 

great,  and  in  the  larger  city  systems  far  greater  than  in  many 
independent  libraries  that  are  hampered  by  a  conservative  or 
restrictive  board  of  trustees. 

Circulating  Department  Work. — The  coming  of  the  "open  shelf" 
has  brought  books,  readers,  and  library  assistants  together  in  a 
new  relation.  It  is  now  realized  that  this  point  of  contact  is  a 
vitally  important  thing,  and  the  standard  of  intelligence  and  cult- 
ure demanded  of  circulating  department  assistants  is  being  raised 
rapidly.  Women  possessed  of  the  broadest  culture  as  well  as  of 
attractive  personality  and  executive  ability  are  being  sought  for 
the  headship  of  circulation  departments  at  salaries  of  from  $900 
to  $1,800,  and  the  supply  is  far  from  adequate.  Trained  assist- 
ants in  the  circulation  departments  get  from  $50  to  $100  a 
month,  and  the  standards  of  salary  are  rising  with  those  of 
efficiency. 

Children's  Work. — This  is  comparatively  a  new  field,  and  the 
demand  for  trained  workers  of  pleasing  personality,  experience 
and  sympathy  with  children,  and  knowledge  of  children's  books, 
greatly  exceeds  the  supply.  The  larger  city  systems  have  super- 
visors of  children's  work  at  salaries  ranging  from  $1,200  to  $1,800. 
Librarians  in  charge  of  children's  rooms  in  independent  libraries 
or  in  branch  libraries  receive  from  $700  to  $1,200,  assistants  in 
children's  rooms  from  $500  to  $800. 

Besides  the  books  themselves,  children's  librarians  have  used 
pictures  and  other  illustrative  material  to  attract  and  influence 
the  children,  and  have  found  story-telling  a  very  effective  means 
of  stimulating  an  interest  in  reading  and  of  introducing  the  chil- 
dren to  authors  and  to  subjects  that  they  might  not  otherwise 
discover.  So  important  a  part  of  children's  work  has  the  story 
hour  become  that  some  are  already  specializing  in  the  direction 
of  story-telling,  and  more  will  undoubtedly  do  so. 

Work  with  Schools. — This  is  closely  allied  to  children's  work, 
but  many  of  the  larger  libraries  have  assistants  who  give  all  their 
time  to  library  work  with  the  schools,  and  at  least  one  of  the  large 
systems  has  a  regularly  organized  department  for  this  work,  with 
assistants  in  the  several  branches. 

This  work  may  include  visiting  the  schools,  sending  to  the 
class-rooms,  or  arranging  in  the  libraries  collections  of  books 


218  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

relating  to  the  subjects  studied  in  the  schools,  preparing  exhi- 
bitions of  material  illustrative  of  special  subjects,  keeping  the 
teachers  informed  of  books  and  periodical  articles  on  their  sub- 
jects, etc.  Many  who  go  into  this  work  have  been  teachers 
or  have  had  normal  school  training.  The  remuneration  is  about 
that  of  the  children's  librarians. 

Reference  Work. — This  work  consists  in  helping  people  who 
come  to  the  library  for  information  as  distinguished  from  those 
who  come  to  borrow  books,  and  the  information  sought  may 
range  from  the  pronunciation  of  a  word  to  material  on  the  psy- 
chology of  white  rats  or  the  evolution  of  the  leit-motif.  There 
is  needed  a  wide  range  of  general  information,  knowledge  of 
books,  a  reading  knowledge  of  French  and  German,  as  many 
of  the  best  reference  books  are  in  these  languages,  tact  in  meeting 
people,  infinite  patience,  and  a  certain  detective  faculty  for  fol- 
lowing clews.  In  the  larger  libraries,  reference  work  has  become 
largely  specialized;  art,  music,  applied  science,  law,  and  medical 
reference  departments  are  found  requiring  specialists  in  these 
subjects.  Men  are  more  in  demand  than  women  for  some  of 
these  positions,  but  there  are  many  women  in  general  reference 
work.  The  salaries  range  from  about  $900  to  $1,500  for  heads 
of  departments,  and  from  $600  to  $900  for  assistants. 

Cataloguing. — Under  this  head  I  have  included  all  the  tech- 
nical work  with  books  from  their  reception  in  the  library  to  their 
placing  on  the  shelves. 

This  work  demands  method,  accuracy,  despatch,  good  general 
information,  good  "book  sense,"  and  a  knowledge  of  foreign 
languages,  the  latter  varying  in  extent  and  importance  in  differ- 
ent libraries.  The  work  appeals  to  those  in  whom  the  book 
interest  and  sense  of  order  and  method  are  stronger  than  their 
interest  in  people. 

The  position  of  head  cataloguer  in  a  large  library  demands 
also  considerable  executive  ability,  and  commands  a  salary  of 
from  $1,000  to  $2,000.  In  a  few  of  the  larger  libraries  these  po- 
sitions are  held  by  men,  but  cataloguing  is  chiefly  woman's  work. 
The  subordinate  positions  command  salaries  of  from  $600  to 
$1,200. 

In  1898  a  State  commission  was  appointed  in  Massachusetts 


LITERARY  WORK  219 

to  encourage  the  establishment  of  free  public  libraries,  and  since 
then  commissions  have  been  appointed  in  thirty-four  States.  The 
commissions  employ  secretaries  or  organizers  who  travel  about 
the  State  starting  new  libraries,  reorganizing  old  libraries,  train- 
ing the  local  librarians.  Many  of  the  commissions  send  out 
travelling  libraries,  conduct  summer  library  schools,  advise  in  the 
selection  of  books  for  the  local  libraries.  This  work  is  very  largely 
done  by  women,  and  demands  a  forceful  and  attractive  personal- 
ity, unbounded  energy  and  enthusiasm,  and  the  power  of  arousing 
enthusiasm  in  others,  great  physical  endurance,  and  a  sense  of 
humor.  Salaries  range  from  $800  to  $1,800,  but  such  qualities 
cannot  be  paid  for,  and  the  work  appeals  only  to  those  who  work 
"for  the  joy  of  the  working."  Indeed,  this  is  largely  the  case 
with  all  kinds  of  public  library  work.  The  pleasure  one  takes 
in  congenial  occupation,  in  work  that  seems  supremely  worth 
while,  is  a  very  large  part  of  one's  compensation.  Librarians 
are  underpaid :  most  of  those  who  are  successful  could  make  more 
money  in  other  ways;  but  they  rarely  care  to  leave  their  chosen 
calling. 

SCHOOL  AND  COLLEGE  LIBRARIES. 

The  demand  for  librarians  in  high  schools  is  a  growing  one. 
The  qualities  needed  are  about  those  demanded  of  reference 
workers  plus  a  great  enthusiasm  for  books,  since  the  opportunity 
for  influencing  the  reading  of  the  high-school  pupils  is  incalculable. 
These  positions  are  under  the  boards  of  education.  The  require- 
ments generally  demand  library  training  and  some  previous 
experience  in  library  work.  Salaries  range  from  $900  to  $1,200, 
but  an  effort  is  being  made  in  Greater  New  York  to  put  the  high- 
school  librarian's  salary  on  a  level  with  the  teacher's. 

There  is  a  growing  realization  among  educators  that  teachers 
need  a  better  knowledge  of  children's  books  than  has  been  required 
of  them  in  the  past,  that  teachers  should  be  more  expert  in  lab- 
oratory methods  of  using  books,  that  they  should  know  the  value 
and  scope  of  the  more  important  reference  books,  and  that  they 
should  be  able  to  administer  school-room  libraries.  This  realiza- 
tion has  led  to  the  demand  in  New  York  and  other  States  that 
the  study  of  books  and  of  library  methods  be  taken  up  in  the 


220  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

normal  schools.  The  need  has  therefore  arisen  for  librarians 
who  shall  be  able  not  only  to  administer  the  libraries  of  normal 
schools,  but  to  give  instruction  along  these  lines.  This  is  new 
work,  but  it  is  already  of  recognized  importance.  Experience  in 
teaching,  or  training  in  a  normal  school  as  well  as  library  train- 
ing, is  needed  to  carry  on  this  work  successfully. 

College  library  work  generally  demands  college  graduation 
as  well  as  library  training  for  the  higher  positions.  The  libra- 
rianship  in  a  man's  college  is  seldom  held  by  a  woman.  In  co- 
educational colleges,  women  are  sometimes  librarians,  and  are 
invariably  so  in  women's  colleges.  Even  in  the  men's  colleges 
the  headship  of  departments,  as  well  as  reference  and  cataloguing 
positions,  are  often  held  by  women.  Salaries  are  a  little  lower, 
as  a  rule,  than  in  public  library  work. 

SPECIAL  LIBRARIES. 

These  are,  as  a  rule,  collections  along  certain  lines,  as  his- 
torical libraries,  libraries  of  learned  societies,  libraries  of  pub- 
lishing houses,  business  houses,  insurance  companies,  etc.  The 
work  in  them  is  largely  reference  work,  cataloguing,  and  indexing, 
and  there  is  a  constantly  widening  field  for  women  of  good  edu- 
cation and  special  training  or  special  tastes  in  libraries  of  this 
sort. 

Women  of  quiet,  bookish  tastes,  good  language  equipment, 
including  Latin  and  Greek  as  well  as  the  modern  languages,  and 
thorough  training  in  cataloguing,  have  found  congenial  work 
in  cataloguing  private  libraries,  which  often  contain  old  and  rare 
books.  The  demand  for  work  of  this  sort  is  not  so  steady  as  for 
regular  library  work,  but  when  once  a  reputation  as  an  expert 
is  established,  one  finds  plenty  of  opportunity.  Such  work  com- 
mands from  $75  to  $125  a  month. 

Given  a  love  for  books,  a  woman  can  find  in  library  work  ex- 
ercise for  all  her  tastes,  faculties,  and  powers,  and  the  lasting 
satisfaction  that  comes  from  doing  a  work  that  is  worth  while. 


LITERARY  WORK  221 


LIBRARY  TRAINING 
MARY  ESTHER  ROBBINS 

DIRECTOR,  DEPARTMENT  OF  LIBRARY  SCIENCE,  SIMMONS  COLLEGE 

A  number  of  library  schools  in  different  parts  of  the  country 
offer  by  means  of  skilful  instructors  carefully  planned  courses  in 
methods  and  usages  proved  by  the  experience  of  many  librarians 
to  be  best  adapted  to  carrying  on  the  many  activities  of  the 
modern  library.  These  schools  vary  in  conditions  for  admission, 
length  of  course,  and  consequent  character  and  amount  of  instruc- 
tion. 

The  oldest,  best-known  school  is  the  New  York  State  Library 
School,  located  at  Albany,  N.Y. 

The  conditions  for  admission  require  that  the  candidate  be  not 
less  than  twenty  years  of  age,  of  recognized  fitness  and  character, 
and  a  graduate  of  a  college  registered  by  the  New  York  State 
Education  Department.  The  college  course  must  have  included 
at  least  fifteen  hours  a  week  in  foreign  languages,  of  which  not  less 
than  three  must  have  been  in  French  and  three  in  German. 

The  tuition  fee  for  the  entire  course  is  $100  to  residents  of 
New  York  State,  $150  to  non-residents. 

The  course  requires  the  entire  time  of  the  student  throughout 
two  college  years.  Instruction  is  given  in  library  administration, 
bibliography,  cataloguing,  classification,  book-binding,  loan  work, 
order  and  accession  work,  printing,  and  various  other  technical 
subjects.  In  addition  to  the  time  devoted  to  class  work  and  prep- 
aration, carefully  supervised  practice  in  the  general  work  of  a 
library  is  required  of  each  student.  Successful  completion  of  the 
course  leads  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Library  Science. 

AH  details  of  information  regarding  the  school  may  be  obtained 
from  the  director,  Mr.  James  I.  Wyer,  Jr. 

Other  library  schools,  arranged  chronologically  by  date  of 
founding,  are  Pratt  Institute  Library  School,  Brooklyn,  N.Y., 
Drexel  Institute  Library  School,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  University 
of  Illinois  Library  School,  Champaign,  111.,  Simmons  College 


222  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

Library  School,  Boston,  Mass.,  Western  Reserve  University 
Library  School,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  Library  Training  School  of  the 
Carnegie  Library  of  Atlanta,  Ga.,  Wisconsin  Library  School, 
Madison,  Wis.,  Indiana  Library  School,  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  Syra- 
cuse University  Library  School,  Syracuse,  N.Y.,  and  the  Carnegie 
Library  Training  School  for  Children's  Librarians,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 

The  University  of  Illinois  Library  School  is  a  regular  school  of 
the  university.  Candidates  for  admission  must  present  ninety- 
eight  hours  of  credit  in  university  work,  including  the  subjects 
prescribed  for  graduation  from  the  College  of  Literature  and  Arts 
or  the  College  of  Science.  These  credits  may  have  been  secured 
at  Illinois  or  at  some  other  institution  of  equal  standing. 

The  annual  tuition  fee  is  $12  for  each  of  the  two  semesters. 
There  is  also  a  matriculating  fee  of  $5. 

A  course  of  two  years  of  technical  library  work  is  given,  includ- 
ing both  required  subjects  and  electives.  The  successful  com- 
pletion of  the  course  leads  to  the  degree  of  B.L.S.  Students  have 
practical  work  in  both  the  library  of  the  University  of  Illinois  and 
the  Champaign  Public  Library. 

Added  details  of  information  may  be  obtained  from  the  director, 
Mr.  P.  L.  Windsor. 

Applicants  for  admission  to  the  Library  School  of  Pratt  Insti- 
tute must  pass  examinations  in  literature,  history,  current  events, 
French,  and  German.  As  the  number  of  students  is  limited,  those 
candidates  showing  the  best  preparation  and  fitness  are  selected. 
Applicants  must  be  at  least  twenty  years  old.  Persons  over 
thirty-five  are  advised  against  undertaking  the  work. 

The  tuition  fee  is  $75  each  year.  The  incidental  expenses,  in- 
cluding supplies  and  the  vacation  trip  to  visit  libraries,  average 
from  $55  to  $60. 

Two  courses  are  given,  a  general  course  and  an  advanced 
course,  each  covering  one  college  year.  Each  is  independent  of 
the  other,  but  the  advanced  course  requires  for  admission  the 
equivalent  of  the  general  course.  In  addition  to  training  in  tech- 
nical library  methods,  instruction  is  given  in  appraisal  of  fiction, 
modern  continental  literature,  and  technical  French,  German, 
and  Italian.  Because  of  the  nearness  of  the  school  to  the  great 
library  collections  in  New  York,  the  students  have  unusual 


LITERARY  WORK  223 

opportunity  to  study  the  cataloguing  of  incunabula,  history  of 
printing,  and  Latin  paleography.  Certificates  are  awarded  on 
the  satisfactory  completion  of  either  of  the  prescribed  courses. 

Requests  for  information  should  be  addressed  to  the  director, 
Miss  Mary  W.  Plummer. 

Those  wishing  to  enter  the  Library  School  of  Drexel  Institute 
must  pass  tests  in  general  literature,  general  history,  general 
information,  and  languages.  A  limited  number  of  students  are 
selected  from  those  presenting  the  best  qualifications. 

The  tuition  fee  is  $50  for  the  year,  with  an  additional  sum  of 
from  $15  to  $20  for  necessary  materials. 

The  course  covers  one  college  year.  Instruction  is  given  in 
cataloguing,  library  economy,  studies  of  books  and  authors, 
reference  work  and  bibliography,  library  history  and  extension, 
and  the  history  of  books  and  printing.  Certificates  are  given  to 
those  completing  satisfactorily  the  whole  course. 

All  inquiries  should  be  addressed  to  the  director,  Miss  J.  R. 
Donnelly. 

Simmons  College  Library  School  offers  two  regular  programs. 
Undergraduate  candidates  must  have  graduated  from  a  high 
school  or  have  had  equivalent  preparation,  and  must  present  such 
subjects  for  admission  as  are  usually  required  by  academic  col- 
leges, with  the  addition  of  arithmetic.  The  subjects  may  be 
offered  either  by  certificate  or  examinations.  To  these  students 
instruction  is  given  in  library  training  and  selected  academic 
subjects,  in  parallel  courses,  throughout  four  college  years.  On 
those  who  finish  the  entire  course  satisfactorily  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Science  is  conferred.  Graduates  of  other  colleges, 
showing  fitness  for  library  work,  pursue  a  one-year  program  made 
up  chiefly  of  technical  library  subjects.  In  addition  to  this  year 
of  study,  six  months  of  acceptable  work  in  some  library  and  a 
thesis  must  be  presented  by  a  candidate  desiring  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Science. 

The  tuition  is  $100  for  each  year.  Necessary  supplies  and  books 
cost  from  $15  to  $30.  Board  and  room  in  the  college  dormitories 
may  be  obtained  for  from  $260  to  $300  a  year. 

For  added  information  address  the  director,  Miss  Mary  E. 
Robbins. 


224  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

Applicants  for  admission  to  Western  Reserve  Library  School 
are  required  to  pass  entrance  examinations  in  general  literature, 
general  history,  current  information,  and  in  two  languages,  one 
of  which  must  be  modern.  Previous  education,  experience,  and 
personal  qualities  are  also  considered  in  selecting  the  members  of 
the  class.  Persons  under  twenty  and  over  thirty -five  years  of 
age,  who  have  had  no  library  experience,  are  not  usually  admitted 
to  the  class. 

The  tuition  fee  is  $100.  There  is  no  matriculation  fee,  but  a 
graduation  fee  of  $5  is  charged. 

The  course  extends  over  one  college  year,  and  gives  a  foundation 
for  general  library  work.  A  certificate  is  given  on  the  satisfactory 
completion  of  the  course.  The  school  is  fortunate  in  its  location. 
The  students  are  admitted  free  of  charge  to  classes  and  lectures 
in  Western  Reserve  University,  and  have  opportunities  for  an 
unusual  variety  of  practical  library  work  in  connection  with  the 
University  Library,  the  large  Public  Library  of  Cleveland,  and 
the  many  special  libraries  in  the  city. 

Miss  Julia  M.  Whittlesey  is  the  director. 

The  Library  Training  School  of  the  Carnegie  Library  of  At- 
lanta, formerly  known  as  the  Southern  Library  School,  re- 
quires a  high-school  education,  or  its  equivalent,  as  a  prepara- 
tion for  the  entrance  examinations.  The  class  is  limited  to  ten 
students  each  year. 

There  is  neither  matriculation  nor  tuition  fee. 

A  general  course  in  library  methods  is  given,  extending  through 
one  school  year.  While  especial  attention  is  given  to  the  admin- 
istration of  the  small  library,  graduates  of  the  school  are  enabled 
to  take  positions  in  large  institutions. 

For  full  information  address  Miss  Julia  T.  Rankin,  director. 

The  Wisconsin  Library  School  at  Madison  is  entered  by  com- 
petitive examinations  held  in  June  of  each  year.  Tests  are  given 
in  history,  general  literature,  and  general  information.  Accepted 
candidates  who  offer  no  library  experience  must  spend  at  least 
one  month  in  practical  work  in  a  designated  library  before  the 
school  opens  in  September. 

Two  courses  are  offered,  the  library  course  and  the  joint  uni- 
versity and  library  course.  Students  in  the  library  course  give 


LITERARY  WORK  225 

their  entire  time  throughout  two  college  years  to  the  technical 
library  instruction.  Upon  successful  completion  of  the  course, 
with  the  addition  of  two  months  of  practical  work  in  an  approved 
library,  a  certificate  of  graduation  is  given.  The  joint  university 
and  library  course  permits  a  student  of  the  University  of  Wis- 
consin to  offer  toward  his  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  not  less  than 
twenty  unit-hour  courses  of  library  work,  these  courses  to  be  taken 
during  his  Junior  and  Senior  years.  The  technical  courses  are 
much  the  same  as  those  given  in  the  other  library  schools.  All 
students  become  familiar  with  the  many  library  activities  centred 
in  Madison. 

The  tuition  fee  for  the  entire  library  course  for  resident  students 
is  $50,  for  non-resident  students,  $80.  For  resident  university 
students  there  is  no  tuition  fee,  for  non-residents  it  is  $15  a 
semester. 

The  director  is  Matthew  S.  Dudgeon. 

The  Indiana  Library  School  gives  entrance  examinations  in 
general  literature,  general  history,  general  information  and  cur- 
rent events,  and  requires  a  reading  knowledge  of  French  and 
German. 

The  course  covers  one  school  year.  Instruction  is  given  in 
"  subjects  required  by  American  Library  Association  standards. 
Particular  attention  is  paid  to  children's  reading  and  work  with 
schools."  Certificates  are  given  for  satisfactory  work. 

The  tuition  fee  is  $100. 

Added  information  will  be  given  by  Miss  Merica  Hoagland, 
director. 

Syracuse  University  Library  School  offers  three  courses,  as 
follows : — 

"A.  A  two  years*  technical  course  for  college  graduates,  lead- 
ing to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Library  Science. 

"5.  A  four  years'  combined  academic  and  technical  course, 
leading  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Library  Economy. 

"C.     A  two  years'  technical  certificate  course." 

For  admission  to  course  A,  candidates  must  be  graduates  of 
academic  colleges  of  approved  standing.  In  courses  B  and  C  the 
same  credentials  are  required  as  for  matriculation  in  the  philo- 
sophical or  classical  courses  of  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts,  Syra- 


226  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

cuse  University.  In  course  C  students  must  also  be  at  least 
eighteen  years  of  age,  and  must  remove  all  entrance  conditions 
before  beginning  technical  work.  The  entering  class  is  limited 
to  twenty-five.  Choice  of  students  will  be  decided  by  merit. 

Tuition  for  the  four  years'  course  is  $37.50  each  semester;  for 
the  two  years'  courses,  $30  each  semester.  A  deposit  of  $15  for 
books  and  supplies  is  required  at  the  beginning  of  the  first  year  of 
technical  work,  and  $10  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  year.  A 
library  trip  costing  from  $30  to  $50  is  required  during  the  second 
year  of  technical  work.  The  fee  for  graduation  and  diploma  is 
$20;  for  the  certificate,  $5. 

Professor  Mary  J.  Sibley  is  the  director. 

The  only  library  school  which  confines  its  instruction  to  one 
phase  of  library  work  is  the  Carnegie  Library  Training  School 
for  Children's  Librarians  at  Pittsburg.  Those  wishing  information 
as  to  entrance  requirements  and  courses  should  write  to  the  direc- 
tor, Frances  J.  Olcott. 

Brief  six  weeks'  courses  are  given  each  summer  by  New  York 
State  Library  School,  at  Chautauqua,  N.Y.,  by  Simmons  College, 
and  under  the  auspices  of  several  of  the  State  Commissions. 
These  courses  are  open  only  to  those  holding  library  positions  or 
under  appointment  for  such  positions. 

The  schools  located  in  large  cities  offer  opportunity  for  visiting 
many  typical  libraries,  museums,  and  similar  institutions,  giving 
valuable  suggestions  to  the  thoughtful  student. 

No  recognized  library  school  gives  definite  promise  of  positions 
to  its  graduates,  but  thus  far  general  experience  proves  that  there 
are  constant  demands  for  properly  prepared  library  workers. 

The  salaries  received  by  graduates  of  library  schools  vary  from 
$50  a  month  to  $75  or  $80  at  the  start.  The  equipment  and  ex- 
perience of  the  individual  and  the  geographical  location  of  the 
library  cause  the  variation. 


LITERARY  WORK  227 


NEWSPAPER  WORK  FOR  WOMEN 
GERTRUDE  L.  MARVIN 

WELLESLEY  FELLOW,  RESEARCH  DEPARTMENT,  WOMEN'S  EDUCATIONAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL 

UNION. 

The  term  "newspaper  work"  usually  suggests  the  reporting 
and  editing  of  a  paper,  although  there  are  two  other  very  impor- 
tant departments,  the  mechanical  and  the  business.  Only  the 
news  end  will  be  considered  in  this  report.  The  news  end  has 
numerous  dignified  and  desirable  positions,  which,  if  they  were 
attainable  for  women,  would  offer  a  most  desirable  goal.  There 
are  the  managing,  and  city  and  desk,  and  day  and  night  editors, 
whose  work  ranges  from  keeping  the  paper  closely  in  line  with  the 
policy  laid  down  by  the  owners  and  the  interests  of  the  busi- 
ness office  to  reading  the  copy  turned  in  by  reporters  all  day 
long. 

The  news  is  divided  between  two  fields, — local  and  foreign. 
The  city  editor  has  charge  of  all  local  news,  that  is,  within  a  radius 
of  about  twenty  miles.  He  keeps  a  big  book,  called  the  "assign- 
ment" book,  and  in  it  are  recorded,  weeks  and  months  ahead, 
coming  events  of  public  and  general  private  interest.  Keeping 
this  book,  which  involves  knowing  where  and  when  news  events 
are  going  to  occur  and  how  to  get  at  them,  is  the  city  editor's 
chief  responsibility;  nothing  should  escape  him.  Through  a  large 
circle  of  acquaintance,  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  city  and 
every  section  thereof,  and  through  careful  and  constant  reading 
of  the  newspapers,  he  must  know  everything  that  is  going  on 
which  has  news  value,  from  the  big  conventions  to  the  small 
personal  items.  The  city  editor,  then,  must  be  primarily  a  man 
among  men.  He  must  not  only  know  all  sorts  of  people,  but  he 
must  make  them  like  him  enough  to  let  him  know  when  some- 
thing is  going  to  happen.  His  salary,  on  the  five  papers  investi- 
gated, ranges  from  $1,820  to  $4,000  per  year,  with  an  average  of 
$2,412. 

Co-ordinate  in  rank  with  the  city  editor  are  the  desk  men,  the 
day  and  night  editors,  whose  work  must  always  be  discriminat- 


228  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

ing,  although  most  of  it  comes  pell-mell  at  the  last  minute.  The 
city  editor's  responsibility  for  the  news  usually  ends  with  know- 
ing about  it  beforehand,  and  assigning  it  on  the  proper  day  to  the 
right  reporter.  The  desk  man's  begins  when  the  reporter  comes 
dashing  in  from  the  scene  of  activities,  and  sitting  down  at  his 
desk,  rattles  off  on  the  long  sheets  of  yellow  copy  paper  an  account 
of  what  has  happened.  The  desk  man  glances  through  the  mass 
of  copy,  divines  its  gist,  and  hands  it  over  to  one  of  his  assistants, 
with  instructions  as  to  editing,  before  it  goes  to  the  composing- 
room  to  be  set  up  in  type.  As  the  time  for  going  to  press  ap- 
proaches, the  copy  pours  in  faster  and  faster,  the  composing-room 
signals  up  that  the  paper  is  already  overset,  and  yet  perhaps  now, 
at  the  last  minute,  an  item  of  first  importance  in  the  whole  day's 
events  comes  in,  and  must  be  made  room  for.  In  the  midst  of  all 
this  clamor  the  desk  man  must  keep  his  head,  racing  through  the 
piles  of  copy,  weighing  its  merits  as  discriminately  and  giving 
as  cool  and  careful  decisions  as  though  he  had  all  the  leisure  and 
quiet  in  the  world.  The  desk  men's  salaries,  on  five  papers, 
range  from  $936  to  $3,000  a  year,  averaging  $1,900. 

A  good  deal  of  the  responsibility  in  important  lines  which  re- 
quire a  first-hand  day  to  day  familiarity  is  delegated  to  specialists. 
Thus  we  have  the  financial  editor,  the  political,  sporting,  dramatic, 
and  musical  men.  These  special  editors  are  really  more  reporters 
than  editors.  The  editor  sits  at  his  desk  and  edits  the  news 
which  is  brought  in,  while  the  reporter  goes  out  on  assignments 
which  are  given  him.  A  special  editor  combines  the  two  functions 
by  being  entirely  responsible  for  the  organization  of  his  own  field 
and  by  covering  it  as  far  as  possible  in  person.  The  best  of  these 
positions  are,  perhaps,  the  most  desirable  on  the  newspaper  staff, 
for  while  escaping  the  continued,  draining  responsibility  of  the 
editors  and  the  necessity  for  constant  work  at  highest  possible 
pressure,  they  give  the  opportunity  to  pick  and  choose,  to  take 
the  most  interesting  assignments  and  leave  the  drudgery  and  the 
routine  stories  to  the  "call  men." 

These  special  editors  deal  intimately  with  the  most  active 
and  spectacular  phases  of  public  life.  The  political  man  is 
obviously  important,  because  the  parties  depend  so  much  on  the 
support  of  their  newspapers.  There  are  usually  several  special 


LITERARY  WORK  229 

reporters  assigned  to  the  various  lines  of  public  activity,  one  man 
for  State  politics,  another  for  city,  a  man  at  the  State  House, 
others  at  the  courts  and  City  Hall.  At  Police  Headquarters  there 
are  men  on  duty  continually  throughout  the  entire  twenty-four 
hours.  The  fields  of  literary,  dramatic,  and  musical  criticism  also 
have  their  specialists,  connoisseurs  on  these  subjects,  men  who 
have  gained  their  experience  as  college  professors,  writers,  organ- 
ists, painters,  and  who  are  fortunate  enough  to  combine  the 
triple  gifts, — command  of  their  own  art,  critical  ability,  and  faculty 
of  expression.  At  almost  the  other  extreme  of  popular  interest 
are  the  sports,  with  specialists  on  baseball,  football,  yachting, 
golf,  sparring,  automobiles,  horses,  college  and  school  athletics. 
Other  lines  which  are  so  constantly  active  as  to  require  the  atten- 
tion of  a  special  man  are  the  water  front,  railroads,  suburban 
correspondents,  and  exchanges.  Responsibility  in  these  positions 
varies  with  the  character  of  the  paper  and  the  temporary  impor- 
tance of  the  department. 

After  the  news  instinct,  which  is  the  first  requisite  for  every 
newspaper  man,  it  is  very  essential  that  these  special  editors 
should  be  "good  mixers,*'  men  whom  other  men  like  and  trust, 
who  are  good  fellows  all  the  way  through,  from  being  apt  story- 
tellers to  respecting  a  confidence.  Only  by  gaining  a  reputation 
for  discretion  and  conscientiousness  can  a  man  hope  to  work  his 
way  up  to  reporting  that  counts,  among  important  people  who, 
knowing  that  they  can  trust  him,  will  give  him  tips  and  informa- 
tion in  advance,  to  be  released  at  a  certain  hour.  The  Associated 
Press,  for  instance,  gets  the  reports  of  executive  committees  and 
special  documents  hours  and  sometimes  several  days  before  even 
the  legislative  bodies  hear  the  results.  Some  special  editors  draw 
salaries  running  up  to  $75  and  $100  per  week,  while  the  majority 
of  special  editors  probably  average  between  $30  and  $40. 

This  leaves  only  one  other  important  position, — that  of  rewrite 
man,  who  is  found  on  four  of  the  papers  visited.  He  does  a  special- 
ized work  formerly  included  in  the  duties  of  the  general  reporter. 
More  and  more  to-day  the  literary  part  of  the  reporter's  work  is 
being  turned  over  to  the  news  desk,  where  sit  half  a  dozen  rewrite 
men,  who  are  the  literary  force  of  the  paper.  As  the  copy  comes 
in,  the  news  editor  or  desk  man  glances  through  it,  and  tosses  it 


230  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

over  to  one  of  them  with  directions.  It  may  be  a  rambling  tale 
of  1,000  words,  and  "make  that  a  50-word  item,"  in  which 
every  one  of  the  essential  features  shall  be  included;  or  it  may  be 
a  hasty  dashing  down  of  100  bare  words  of  names  and  places 
and  facts,  for  which  the  public  are  all  eager,  and  "work  it  over 
into  a  2,000-word  story."  Then,  consistently  with  the  degree 
of  sensationalism  in  which  his  paper  indulges,  the  rewrite  man 
selects  the  most  thrilling  or  touching  or  important  element  in 
the  story,  and  features  it,  putting  into  it  as  much  sympathy  and 
human  interest  as  he  is  capable.  The  New  York  Sun  has  the 
best  rewrite  men  in  the  country,  and  their  salaries  range  up  to 
and  over  $100  per  week,  but  on  any  paper  a  good  rewrite  man  is 
worth  from  $30  up.  The  demands  of  this  position,  however,  are 
tremendous,  for  besides  inexhaustible  originality  in  clever  devices 
and  telling  droll  tales,  besides  great  versatility  in  the  use  of  humor, 
satire,  and  description,  the  rewrite  man  must  be  well  posted  on 
current  affairs  and  conditions  in  every  possible  field  from  a  foot- 
ball game  to  a  dressmakers'  convention.  He  must  recognize  at 
once,  in  a  mass  of  copy,  the  essential  parts  of  the  story,  know  the 
technical  terms  of  that  line,  and  how  to  use  them. 

These  higher  editorial  and  reportorial  positions  have  decided 
attractions.  But  there  are  serious  drawbacks  in  them  for  women. 
All  the  editors  and  newspaper  women  interviewed  feel  strongly 
that  the  high  nervous  strain  under  which  the  editors  must  work, 
especially  in  the  last  hour  before  the  paper  goes  to  press,  would 
wear  a  woman  out  in  a  short  time.  It  is  a  maelstrom  of  hurry 
and  anxiety,  and  for  the  man  at  the  top,  of  intense  responsibility, 
which  all  the  people  who  know  it  seem  to  feel  that  no  mere  out- 
sider can  even  faintly  conceive  without  experience.  Woman's 
ability  to  control  such  situations  is,  of  course,  a  matter  of 
opinion,  but  newspaper  people  themselves  doubt  it,  and  point 
to  the  fact  that  there  are  no  women  holding  such  positions  in 
Boston. 

The  nervous  strain  which  the  desk  editors  and  rewrite  men  in 
the  news-room  particularly  feel,  does  not  so  especially  apply  to 
the  work  of  the  special  reporter  and  editor,  but  here  there  is  another 
handicap  for  women  and  fully  as  great  a  one.  It  is  the  difficulty 
of  being  unable  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  men  who  are  doing  the 


LITERARY  WORK  231 

world's  work  and  who  command  public  attention.  Of  the  six 
editors  interviewed,  five  agreed  that  the  average  man's  prejudice 
against  talking  to  a  woman  seriously  or  trusting  her  with  im- 
portant information  would  prove  a  serious  handicap  to  a  woman. 
This  would  apply  especially  to  political,  financial,  military,  and 
water-front  news.  There  is  also  a  large  amount  of  scandal  and 
murder  news  that  would  be  so  disagreeable  as  to  deter  a  woman 
from  having  anything  to  do  with  it. 

These  objections  do  not  apply  to  the  critic's  work,  but  perhaps 
the  reason  which  one  prominent  critic  gave  for  there  being  practi- 
cally no  women  critics  may  be  more  broadly  applied  to  the  whole 
field.  He  says  that  in  all  his  years  of  experience  he  has  never 
found  a  girl  reporter  whom  he  could  trust  even  enough  to  train. 
He  thinks  that  perhaps  the  clever,  discriminating  woman,  capable 
of  doing  serious  work,  is  too  ambitious  and  able  in  her  own  line 
to  find  it  worth  while  to  settle  down  to  the  necessary  apprentice- 
ship. Unwillingness  to  put  up  with  inconveniences  and  particu- 
larly disagreeable  conditions  may  very  possibly  deter  many  clever 
women,  who  by  reason  of  their  literary  ability  would  naturally 
be  attracted  to  newspaper  work  as  an  opportunity  for  writing. 
For,  with  the  exception  of  special  concessions  occasionally  made 
to  some  man  or  woman  of  established  reputation  in  his  art  or 
profession,  who  may  do  part-time  work  at  his  own  convenience, 
newspapers  lay  down  fairly  strenuous  and  exacting  conditions  for 
their  apprentices. 

Reporter  "on  call"  is  the  only  position  on  any  of  these  papers 
open  to  the  inexperienced  candidate,  and  such  reporting  is  very 
different  from  the  work  of  the  special  experienced  man  that  has 
already  been  described.  The  hours  are  long  and  irregular.  On 
a  morning  paper  they  run  from  one  in  the  afternoon  to  midnight, 
usually,  with  an  occasional  evening  off.  But  the  free  evenings  can 
never  be  counted  on  in  advance:  they  come  only  when  the  news 
happens  to  be  slack.  On  the  afternoon  papers  the  hours  are 
almost  as  bad,  for,  while  they  are  only  supposed  to  be  from  half- 
past  eight  or  nine  to  five,  an  assignment  will  very  often  come  in 
at  the  last  minute  that  will  keep  the  reporter  out  until  midnight. 
This  means  no  freedom  whatever.  The  irregular  hours  also  affect 
the  meals.  An  assignment  often  takes  the  reporter  out  into  the 


232  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

suburbs  for  hours  at  a  stretch,  where  restaurants  are  unheard  of 
and  where  one  can  only  work  ahead  as  fast  as  possible  in  order 
to  get  back  to  town.  It  means  all  kinds  of  weather,  too,  for 
suicides  and  elopements  will  occur,  be  it  fair  day  or  foul,  in 
houses  several  miles  from  the  nearest  car  track,  and  they  have 
to  be  looked  up  at  once.  A  long,  hard  trip  like  this  is  not  only 
an  every-day  matter,  but  it  means  no  extra  pay.  Some  papers 
start  their  reporters  with  mere  expenses, — that  is,  car-fare  and 
telephone  fees, — then,  if  they  seem  promising,  they  are  taken  on 
the  staff  at  an  initial  salary  of  $6,  $8,  or  $10.  One  paper  pays 
$12  to  start,  but  it  usually  secures  reporters  who  have  served 
their  apprenticeship  on  other  papers.  Some  papers  pay  only  for 
space  work  at  first, — that  is,  about  two  cents  a  line  for  every 
line  printed;  but  as  the  desk  usually  cuts  the  stories  in  two  or 
even  more,  this  makes  a  meagre  salary,  unless  the  beginner  has 
real  ability  and  can  turn  in  acceptable  copy  from  the  start. 

Every  newspaper  man  interviewed  asserted  with  great  emphasis 
that  the  essential  requisite  for  success,  be  it  as  young  reporter 
or  experienced  editor,  is  the  news  instinct.  This  instinct,  or 
"nose  for  news/'  is  a  rather  mysterious  quality.  The  six  editors 
interviewed  agreed  that  it  is  an  innate  quality,  and  one  which, 
not  inborn,  can  never  be  developed.  Moreover,  they  also  agreed 
that  one  can  never  judge  of  its  presence  by  appearances.  Some- 
times the  most  unpromising  material  will  manifest  it  from  the 
start,  and  again  a  most  capable  man  in  other  respects  will  lack  it. 
It  is  ability  to  recognize  news  in  whatever  form  or  disguise,  and 
news  is  anything  with  sufficient  significance  to  interest  the  public. 
As  the  public  is  about  the  most  complex  thing  in  the  world,  it 
may  be  interested  from  a  variety  of  standpoints,  and  it  is  the  man 
who  is  big  enough  to  recognize  human  interest  in  any  guise,  who 
can  get  away  from  himself  and  his  little  personal  point  of  view, 
that  will  recognize  news  possibilities  in  trivial  items. 

Besides  this,  there  is  an  element  of  luck  which  scarcely  bears 
analysis,  but  certain  it  is  that  some  of  the  big  reporters  always 
seem  to  be  in  places  just  when  something  happens.  This  is  the 
instinct  part,  half  occult,  and  a  little  exaggerated  perhaps;  but 
on  Newspaper  Row  there  are  remarkable  instances  of  men  who 
do  have  the  luck,  who  again  and  again,  wherever  they  happened 


LITERARY  WORK  233 

to  go,  have  been  just  in  time  to  witness  and  write  brilliant  records 
of  the  world's  great  events, — earthquakes,  conflagrations,  and 
riots.  The  significant  point  here,  however,  is  the  opinion  gener- 
ally held  by  newspaper  people  that  women,  almost  without 
exception,  lack  the  news  instinct.  The  editors  say  that  they 
have  not  the  detective  spirit,  they  do  not  get  around  quickly 
enough  to  make  brilliant  "scoops."  Their  forte  is  and  has  been 
writing  human  interest  stories,  weaving  a  web  of  romance  about 
some  little  news  item,  the  work  which  is  now  chiefly  handed  over 
to  the  rewrite  men.  But  the  rewrite  man  must  have  such  a  com- 
bination of  news  instinct  to  recognize  the  essentials  of  some  long 
story,  and  ability  to  write  fast  and  well,  even  brilliantly,  under 
tremendous  pressure  at  the  eleventh  hour,  that,  as  the  name 
implies,  no  women  are  doing  this  work. 

Not  only,  then,  does  the  disagreeable  nature  of  the  apprentice- 
ship deter  a  woman  from  attempting  it,  but  she  is  not,  in  the  opin- 
ion of  all  the  editors  interviewed,  very  valuable  for  the  work,  after 
all.  In  fact,  of  these  six  editors,  three  said  flatly  that  there  was 
no  desirable  opening  for  women  on  their  papers,  while  the  other 
three,  who  asserted  that  there  was  an  opening,  admitted  that  they 
consider  a  position  with  a  maximum  possible  salary  of  $18  to  $20 
a  week  a  desirable  opening  "for  a  woman." 

Woman's  present  position  on  seven  Boston  papers  is  of  interest. 
Of  2,092  employees,  45  are  women,  and  of  this  45,  26  are  doing 
the  usual  stenographic  and  cashier  work.  Only  19  are  employed 
in  the  news  end,  as  contrasted  with  approximately  472  men  re- 
porters, editors,  and  correspondents.  Of  responsible  positions  as 
editors  and  special  reporters,  there  are  about  228,  and  men  are 
holding  every  one  of  them.  Women  are,  in  fact,  limited  to  four 
classes  of  subordinate  positions.  Two  of  the  positions  held  by 
women  are  referred  to  as  editors, — the  society  editor  and  the 
woman's  page  editor.  They  were  not  described  with  the  leading 
positions,  however,  because  they  are  so  very  much  inferior  in 
importance,  prestige,  and  pay.  Ten  women  are  regular  reporters, 
taking  assignments  as  they  come  in,  and  doing  approximately  the 
same  work  as  the  inexperienced  men  reporters  "on  call."  Five 
women  are  special  reporters,  being  reserved  for  occasions  such  as 
society  affairs,  conventions,  and  meetings  of  women's  clubs  and 


234  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

religious  organizations.  Two  women  are  society  editors,  and  the 
remaining  two  do  miscellaneous  work  of  a  general  woman's  page 
nature. 

The  editor  of  the  woman's  page  is  usually  a  woman.  She  must 
have  originality  and  ingenuity  to  devise  new  attractions  for  her 
page,  to  respond  to  popular  interest  with  various  columns  of 
housekeeping  hints,  ethical  reflections,  or  advice  to  the  lovelorn. 
She  must  be  seasonable  with  directions  for  putting  away  woollens 
in  the  spring  and  filling  up  chinks  in  the  windows  as  the  winter 
approaches.  She  must  read  the  papers,  listen  to  people  and  note 
the  currents  of  public  attention,  get  interviews  with  some  popular 
woman, — actress  or  lecturer, — give  pictures  of  some  hotel  or  other 
business  concern  run  by  women.  This  is  not  a  high  order  of 
literary  labor,  as  one  realizes  when  one  reads  these  women's 
pages,  though  it  is  undoubtedly  capable  of  development.  We 
must  realize  that  these  pages  are  all  in  response  to  popular  de- 
mand. Some  wise  woman,  alive  to  possibilities,  may  eventually 
recognize  and  develop  this  direct  path  of  influence  and  commu- 
nication with  the  public.  With  a  minimum  outlay  of  time  and 
money,  this  page  might  carry  into  thousands  of  homes  the  very 
messages  for  which  settlements  and  district  nurses  and  churches 
and  hospitals  are  organizing  classes, — the  fundamental  facts  of 
housewifery  and  motherhood,  cleanliness,  diet  for  infants,  the 
care  of  tuberculosis  in  the  home;  or,  reaching  out  to  another  type 
of  reader,  might  persistently  mould  the  opinions  of  the  more  en- 
lightened on  saner  ethical  principles  than  are  now  found  in  advice 
columns.  Although  one  managing  editor  and  the  woman's  page 
editor  of  another  paper  were  very  sanguine  as  to  the  possibilities 
of  the  page,  the  opportunity  is  not  generally  recognized,  and  the 
position  is  as  yet  by  no  means  one  of  importance. 

Akin  to  the  woman's  page  is  the  special  work  for  the  Sunday 
papers,  and  there  are  probably  more  women  engaged  in  this 
department  than  in  any  other  branch.  It  is,  however,  impossible 
to  give  any  statistics  about  them,  as  the  "Sunday  Magazine" 
is  space  work  paid  for  at  from  $5  to  $8  per  column,  and  the  con- 
tributors are  not  members  of  the  staff,  but  free  lances,  sending 
in  what  they  like,  when  they  like,  often  working  for  two  or  three 
papers  at  a  time.  They  are  absolutely  independent  in  their 


LITERARY  WORK  235 

hours.  As  to  subject-matter,  they  must  consider  the  public, 
and  give  it  what  it  wants.  The  society  editor,  when  the  paper 
has  one,  is  always  a  woman,  and  she  is  a  familiar  figure  to  almost 
everybody.  Perhaps  it  is  not  generally  realized,  however,  that 
she  is  held  in  no  higher  regard  in  her  own  office  than  among  the 
people  whom  she  drags,  unwilling  victims,  into  print.  As  one 
editor  said,  the  society  editor  has  a  disagreeable  job.  She  must 
have  years  of  training  to  know  every  one  in  society  and  to  find  the 
leaky  channels  on  which  she  can  depend  for  news.  During  this 
training  she  must  become  absolutely  hardened,  willing  to  forego 
people's  confidence,  to  use  her  friends  one  and  all,  to  sacrifice 
everything  to  her  one  purpose  of  getting  the  gossipy  news  into 
print  first. 

Such  are  the  positions  to  which  women  are  limited.  The  pay 
varies  with  the  paper,  the  individual  ability  of  the  woman,  and 
her  years  of  experience,  but  the  maximum  for  all  these  positions  on 
any  of  the  six  papers  is  $35  a  week.  In  the  cases  of  fifteen  re- 
porters the  minimum  salary  was  $8,  the  maximum  $35,  and  the 
average  $18.  The  two  society  editors  averaged  $26,  and  the  two 
woman's  page  editors  $14.  $18  means,  probably,  the  high-water 
mark  that  the  average  newspaper  woman  in  Boston  can  hope 
to  achieve.  There  are  rumors  of  phenomenal  salaries  on  New 
York  papers  to  popular  special  story  writers,  but  they  seem 
to  be  rare  and  a  matter  of  luck,  due  rather  to  the  happy  accident 
of  making  a  temporary  hit  with  the  fickle  public  than  to  either 
brilliance  or  hard  work.  There  are  also  stories  of  prominent 
magazine  writers  and  novelists  who  gained  their  first  experience 
in  newspaper  work,  and  some  of  the  young  girl  reporters  talk  of 
"working  up  into  magazine  writing,"  but  they  point  out  no 
predecessors  here  in  Boston,  and  their  ambitions  are  very  in- 
definite. 

Finally,  what  conclusions  shall  we  draw  as  to  the  desirability 
of  newspaper  work  for  women?  We  are  met  by  three  grave 
handicaps, — the  present  difficulty  of  mingling  on  an  equal  footing 
with  men  of  affairs  and  the  consequent  difficulty  of  getting  the 
news  from  them;  the  physical  strain  of  the  high-pressure  work 
necessary  for  rushing  a  modern  successful  sheet  into  press,  which 
debars  all  but  women  of  iron  physique;  and,  lastly,  the  obstacles 


236  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

at  the  start  and  the  limit  to  promotion.  Entering  Newspaper 
Row,  as  it  is  organized  to-day,  with  a  determination  to  win 
success,  almost  necessarily  involves  breaking  down  certain  funda- 
mental standards  of  womanhood  and  of  the  dignity  and  reserve 
which  belong  to  it  which  may  better  be  preserved. 


A  MORE  HOPEFUL  OUTLOOK   IN  NEWSPAPER  WORK 
AGNES  E.  RYAN 

The  special  discouragements  peculiar  to  journalism  for  women 
are  said  to  be  two:  (1)  the  long,  laborious,  unpleasant  apprentice- 
ship as  news-gatherer  or  reporter;  and  (2)  the  lack  of  good  posi- 
tions of  any  kind  open  to  them  after  the  long  apprenticeship  has 
been  faithfully  served. 

These  two  dampers  on  the  profession  for  women  are  usually 
treated  as  inevitable,  and  brave,  indeed,  or  inspired,  or  mad  must 
the  woman  be  who  persists  in  the  face  of  them.  Six  years*  ex- 
perience in  the  various  phases  of  "literary  work,"  however,  my 
deepest  convictions  from  1902  up  to  date,  and  the  present  out- 
look for  women  journalists  prompt  me  to  say  (1)  the  reporter's 
thorny  path  is  not  the  only  road  to  journalism  for  women,  and 
(2)  a  society  column  and  an  inane  woman's  page  in  which  a 
woman  of  brains,  ideals,  and  common  sense  must  inevitably 
write  down  to  other  women  as  though  they  could  have  no  brains, 
sense,  nor  ideals,  are  not  the  necessary  and  only  goals  at  the  end 
of  the  long  road.  The  first  statement  I  shall  have  to  substantiate 
from  my  own  experience.  I  can  perhaps  best  demonstrate  the 
second  by  calling  attention  to  certain  conditions  observable  in  the 
newspaper  and  periodical  world  to-day,  and  by  asking  readers 
to  note  the  changes  taking  place  there  and  to  read  their  signifi- 
cance. 

When  I  started  out  in  1903  to  earn  my  living,  I  was  bent  on 
becoming  a  writer.  I  was  not  well  equipped  for  anything.  I 
certainly  had  no  training  to  fit  me  for  journalism,  I  knew  no  jour- 
nalist whom  I  could  consult,  and  nothing  but  discouragement 


LITERARY  WORK  237 

was  given  me  in  answer  to  questions  about  the  only  profession 
which  attracted  me.  Graduation  over,  however,  I  entered  upon 
a  position  at  the  very  foot  of  the  literary  ladder.  The  position 
was  with  a  struggling  magazine  which  offered  me  a  literary  ap- 
prenticeship, "prospects,"  and  $4  a  week.  This  may  seem  a 
meagre  beginning,  but  the  experience  there  was  invaluable.  It 
included  folding  circulars  and  press  sheets,  addressing  countless 
envelopes,  making  out  bills,  doing  all  kinds  of  clerical  work  in  a 
very  dirty  office,  and  later  going  over  all  the  newspapers  that 
came  to  the  office  for  our  advertisement  and  the  notices  of  our 
magazine.  Handling  the  papers  from  all  over  the  country  for 
even  this  purpose  gave  me  some  necessary  acquaintance  with 
papers  in  general,  and  the  best  ones  I  took  home  with  me  at 
night  for  study. 

After  a  time  I  was  given  magazine  articles,  stories,  poems, 
recipes,  household  hints,  and  prize  contributions  to  read  with 
a  view  to  publication.  To  be  allowed  to  do  this  kind  of  work 
was  encouraging,  especially  as  my  judgment  as  manuscript  reader 
was  found  to  be  good.  Next  I  was  initiated  into  the  mysteries 
of  "making  up"  the  large  press-sheets  which  we  sent  out  each 
month.  Then  came  a  taste  of  proof-reading.  The  editor  did 
all  the  proof-reading  on  the  whole  magazine,  and  the  two  days' 
training  he  gave  me  in  reading  copy  and  catching  errors  on  the 
proof -sheets  opened  up  a  new  phase  of  literary  work.  When  I 
saw  how  essential  good  proof-reading  is  to  the  magazine  editor, 
I  decided  to  perfect  myself  in  the  profession  as  soon  as  possible. 
I  accordingly  drew  from  the  library  a  proof-reader's  manual  and 
studied  it  diligently. 

Lest  I  give  the  impression  that  all  this  valuable  experience  in 
the  editorial  rooms  was  altogether  satisfactory,  I  must  say  that 
for  every  day's  experience  beyond  the  purely  clerical  I  fought 
hard,  and  that,  though  my  work  grew  in  volume  and  importance, 
and  though  it  was  granted  that  I  had  ability,  I  was  unable  to  get 
more  than  $5  a  week.  This  was  discouraging,  but  it  was 
not  so  bad  as  the  prospects,  for  there  was  no  denying  the  fact 
that  I  was  not  needed  in  the  editorial  department,  and  while  I 
might  stay  there  indefinitely,  there  was  no  hope  that  I  would 
ever  get  more  than  $7  a  week.  As  I  was  obliged  to  earn  more 


238  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

than  that,  I  tried  to  get  another  position.  When  I  had  tried 
in  vain  for  months,  I  grew  desperate,  gave  up  my  work  there, 
and  set  out  to  get  a  position  elsewhere.  In  a  few  days  I  found 
a  chance  to  become  a  proof-reader  in  a  large  publishing  house. 
Here  I  learned  to  set  type  and  read  proof  on  a  very  high  grade  of 
books  for  eight  months. 

While  holding  my  first  position,  I  had  two  articles  published 
which  brought  me  friends.  The  result  was  that  two  positions 
were  offered  me  in  the  same  week.  One  was  a  better  position 
as  proof-reader:  the  other  was  a  semi-editorial  position  with 
better  hours,  more  pay,  more  agreeable  work,  better  prospects. 
I  took  the  second  position,  of  course,  and  in  it  had  nearly  three 
years  of  valuable  work.  Here  all  my  college  training  and  the 
experience  gained  in  the  other  two  offices  stood  me  in  good  stead. 
Besides  some  clerical  work,  I  read  proof,  prepared  manuscript 
for  the  printer,  edited  both  book  and  magazine  manuscripts,  had 
charge  of  all  book  and  magazine  manuscripts  that  came  to  the 
house,  did  about  a  third  of  all  first  reading  on  book  manuscripts, 
wrote  for  some  of  our  publications,  and  did  a  good  deal  of  writ- 
ing for  other  publications.  The  rest  of  what  may  be  called  my 
apprenticeship  has  been  spent  in  proof-reading,  editing  and  re- 
vising long  book  manuscripts,  and  in  various  kinds  of  writing. 
Two  newspaper  positions  have  recently  been  offered  me,  one  at 
$30  a  week,  with  opportunity  for  editorial  writing  at  about  $10 
a  week  extra  pay. 

While  the  road  I  have  travelled  has  been  neither  short  nor 
smooth,  it  is  a  great  improvement  on  the  typical  reporter's  path. 
I  have  not  been  badly  treated,  the  hours  have  not  been  hard,  the 
pay  only  $16  maximum,  but  the  interest  and  enjoyment  keen, 
and  the  range  of  experience  broad  and  valuable.  In  addition  to 
the  several  positions  with  publishing  houses  there  has  scarcely 
been  a  week  in  which  I  have  not  furnished  copy  to  some  weekly 
or  daily. 

Though  my  experience  has  not  been  so  hard  as  is  said  to  be  the 
lot  of  the  beginner  usually,  it  has  been  much  harder  than  the  lot 
of  the  beginner  need  be  again.  Fortunately,  conditions  under 
which  a  beginner  prepares  for  journalism  have  greatly  changed. 
More  teachers  and  editors  realize  that  journalists  need  training, 


LITERARY  WORK  239 

and  courses  of  journalism  have  been  introduced  into  the  cur- 
ricula of  several  colleges  in  this  country.*  Now  the  girl  who 
wants  to  become  a  journalist  begins  early  in  her  college  course  to 
make  all  her  work  at  college  contribute  toward  fitting  her  for  this 
calling.  She  chooses  those  courses  which  give  her  the  broadest 
knowledge  of  life  and  which  give  her  practice  in  writing.  She 
works  on  the  journalism  course  as  though  her  daily  bread  de- 
pended upon  the  quality  of  her  work  in  this  preparatory  course; 
and  she  gets  connection  with  some  daily  or  weekly  paper  which 
will  accept  and  pay  for  good  paragraphs  of  real  news  value.  Col- 
lege news,  educational  news  of  all  kinds,  religious  news,  make  a 
good  beginning  and  are  at  hand.  While  in  college,  any  girl  who 
expects  to  become  a  journalist  should  earn  at  least  $1  a  week  by 
actual  newspaper  work,  whether  on  a  large  daily  or  a  small 
country  weekly.  This  will  mean  car-fares,  at  least,  and  the  ex- 
perience to  be  gained  from  regular  work  on  a  country  newspaper 
of  even  the  poorest  type  is  not  to  be  despised.  Club  news,  so- 
ciety news,  church  and  school  news,  local  news  of  every  descrip- 
tion, is  in  constant  demand;  and  while  the  pay  is  small  for  even 
good  work,  the  experience  is  invaluable,  for  here  as  well  as  any- 
where else  one  learns  what  news  is,  how  to  get  it,  how  to  tell  it, 
how  to  deal  with  people,  how  to  deal  with  editors;  one  gets  ac- 
quainted with  newspapers,  their  contents,  character,  methods, 
and  in  time  one  comes  to  study  the  newspaper  world  with  a  view 
to  what  it  has  to  offer. 

And  what  it  has  to  offer  to-day  is  not  what  it  offered 
fifty  years  ago,  a  decade  ago,  or  even  five  years  ago.  The  news- 
paper world  is  undergoing  changes.  The  number  of  newspapers 
and  periodicals  started,  the  changes  in  columns,  departments, 
and  pages,  the  general  upward  tendency,  are  significant.  A  deal 


*  University  of  Missouri  at  Columbia.  Tuition  is  free.  The  cost  of  living  in 
Columbia  is  from  $3  to  $5  a  week. 

University  of  Wisconsin  at  Madison.  Tuition  is  free  to  residents  of  the  State 
The  cost  of  living  near  the  university  is  from  $3.50  to  $5  per  week. 

Boston  University  course  started  in  1908,  open  to  Juniors,  Seniors,  graduate 
and  special  students.  For  regular  students  the  journalism  course  is  covered  by 
the  regular  tuition,  which  is  $125  per  year.  Special  students  may  take  the  course 
for  $9  per  semester. 


240  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

of  journalism  of  particular  interest  to  women  is  being  produced. 
Women  readers  of  all  classes  of  papers  are  now  forces  to  be  reck- 
oned with  as  never  before.  Women  are  passing  through  an  impor- 
tant transition:  they  are  changing  and  growing.  A  new  order  of 
woman  is  being  evolved,  and  a  new  order  of  journalism  must  be 
provided  for  them.  Consider  the  Peggies,  the  Ella  Wheeler 
Wilcoxes,  the  Beatrice  Fairfaxes,  the  Mildred  Champaignes,  the 
Nancy  Lees,  the  Margaret  Lanes,  the  Listeners,  the  Chatterers  in 
Boston.  They  are  innovations  in  journalism  within  the  memory 
of  the  newest  girl  graduate.  We  may  scorn  them,  smile  at 
them,  refuse  to  read  them,  but  they  are  with  us  and  they  are 
significant  to  women.  Bad  as  they  are  or  good  as  they  are,  they 
are  not  the  end,  and  there  will  be  more  of  them,  not  less.  Con- 
sider the  women  writers  of  the  country,  the  authors  of  books, 
the  writers  for  all  classes  of  magazines  and  papers:  they  have 
proved  themselves  as  contributors  and  writers  and  journalists. 
Only  the  beginning  in  journalism  has  been  made  by  women,  and 
as  great  a  revolution  is  taking  place  in  this  as  in  most  other  phases 
of  life  in  which  the  women  of  to-day  are  concerned. 

Present-day  tendencies  in  journalism  mean  three  things  of 
importance  to  women  journalists:  (1)  that  women  themselves 
are  growing  and  demand  better  papers;  (2)  that  there  is  a  growing 
demand  for  women  writers,  who  alone  can  furnish  the  new  and 
better  journalism  for  women;  and  (3)  that  a  trivial  society  column 
or  a  sentimental  woman's  page  is  no  longer  the  highest  goal  which 
a  sensible  woman  journalist  may  hope  to  attain.  A  high-grade, 
uplifting  woman's  page,  which  men  as  well  as  women  may  read 
with  profit,  a  page  requiring  more  ability,  more  character,  higher 
ideals,  greater  faith  in  women,  greater  expectations  for  women 
than  have  been  seen,  is  the  logical  outcome  of  the  near  future. 
It  is  the  journalism  which  is  surely  on  the  way,  and  for  which  it  is 
worth  while  for  women  journalists  to  prepare. 


LITERARY  WORK  241 

FREE  LANCING  IN  NEW  YORK 
MINNIE  J.  REYNOLDS 

Independent  writers,  attached  to  no  publication,  are  called 
free  lances  in  the  newspaper  world.  The  magazine  sections  of 
the  Sunday  papers  over  the  country  are  very  largely  supplied 
from  New  York  through  newspaper  syndicates.  This  syndicate 
matter  and  the  magazine  sections  of  the  New  York  Sunday 
papers — or  the  Saturday  editions  of  the  evening  papers — are 
supplied  very  largely  by  the  free  lances.  The  free  lance  also  sends 
some  material  direct  to  outside  papers,  sometimes  syndicating 
articles  of  his  own  among  them,  does  occasional  assignments 
for  the  city  editors,  and  every  now  and  then  places  a  story  in  the 
periodical  press.  He  sells  poetry,  jokes,  short  fiction,  special 
articles,  news  items,  and  photographs.  His  old,  reliable,  and 
steady  market  is  the  Sunday  paper. 

Regular  rates  of  payment  in  this  paper  run  from  $5  to  $10 
a  column,  and  a  column  contains  about  1,000  words.  Special 
articles,  for  which  special  bargains  are  made,  command  much 
more, — sometimes  several  hundreds  of  dollars.  The  novice  must 
base  his  calculations  of  a  possible  income,  however,  on  the  regular 
rates. 

It  is  quite  impossible  to  estimate  this  income,  for  it  depends 
entirely  on  each  individual.  It  may  be  said  in  general,  however, 
that  it  is  a  comparatively  easy  thing  for  a  very  ordinary  writer 
with  very  ordinary  industry  to  make  $1,000  a  year  free  lancing 
in  New  York.  It  is  a  very  easy  and  a  very  speedy  matter  to 
write  a  thousand  words.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  time  or  difficulty 
to  get  the  material  to  fill  a  thousand  words.  The  crux  of  the 
matter  comes  in  knowing  what  sort  of  material  to  get,  how  to  get 
it,  and  where  to  sell  it.  If  a  writer  knows  this,  he  never  need 
ask  anybody  for  a  job:  his  living  is  always  in  his  hands  in  New 
York. 

A  thousand  dollars  a  year  is  mere  poverty  in  New  York  City, 
as  any  one  who  has  tried  it  knows.  When,  however,  one  re- 


242  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

fleets  that  the  women  teachers  in  the  grades  of  the  New  York 
schools  must  begin  for  $600  a  year,  that  after  they  have  taught 
thirteen  years  they  get  only  $1,120,  and  that  to  command  this 
sum  the  teacher  must  have  had  what  amounts  to  six  years  of 
previous  professional  training,  must  have  passed  a  stiff  examina- 
tion and  then  substituted  a  while  before  she  got  an  appointment, — 
and  that  men  teaching  the  same  grades  get  from  $300  to  $1,000 
more  than  she, — it  becomes  apparent  that,  as  women's  occupations 
go,  free  lancing  is  not  to  be  despised. 

Any  success  in  free  lancing  commonly  demands  previous  ex- 
perience on  a  newspaper  staff,  either  in  New  York  or  in  some 
other  city.  I  do  not  see,  however,  why  persons  should  not  suc- 
ceed without  it.  If  a  person  can  write,  he  can  write,  whether  he 
learned  how  on  a  newspaper  or  not.  Writing  for  the  Sunday 
papers  is  not  reporting,  which  can  be  learned  only  on  a  staff. 
It  is  far  more  like  magazine  writing.  The  magazines  and  the 
Sunday  papers  grow  more  like  each  other  every  year,  as  the  name 
"magazine  section"  indicates.  One  who  can  write  for  the  Sunday 
papers  may  never  be  a  reporter,  but  if  he  is  successful  he  will, 
after  a  time,  begin  to  write  for  the  magazines. 

Two  little  tales  of  two  women  who  came  to  New  York  to  free 
lance  may  prove  more  useful  than  general  maxims.  One  ar- 
rived in  the  city  in  summer,  unacquainted  with  a  soul  in  it.  She 
was  on  the  verge  of  nervous  prostration,  she  had  no  good  clothes, 
no  good  looks,  and  it  was  with  extreme  difficulty  that  she  could 
be  civil  to  anybody.  Consequently  she  made  no  friends. 
She  had  no  job,  and  she  did  not  want  one.  She  had  left  a  good 
job  because  she  felt  she  must  have  a  change.  Nevertheless,  she 
made  her  board  and  lodging  the  first  week  she  was  in  New  York 
with  one  thousand  words  sold  to  the  Sunday  Sun.  And  she  made 
more  than  $1,000  that  year,  an  amount  which  she  steadily  in- 
creased for  several  years  until  she  reached  what  was  apparently 
her  limit. 

This  woman  had  had  eight  years'  experience  on  a  morning  daily 
in  a  city  of  some  200,000  inhabitants.  In  addition  she  studied 
the  New  York  Sunday  papers — all  of  them — as  she  would  have 
studied  to  take  a  degree.  The  first  month  she  was  in  the  city  she 
took  in  $32,  which  was  exactly  enough  to  pay  her  landlady.  The 


LITERARY  WORK  243 

next  month  she  took  in  $35.  But  the  next  month  her  receipts 
suddenly  jumped  to  over  $100.  Manifestly,  she  could  not  write 
any  better  in  August  than  in  June,  nor  so  well,  for  it  was  hotter. 
But  she  had  begun  to  learn  what  the  editors  of  the  various  papers 
would  buy. 

The  experience  of  the  second  woman  proves  that  it  is  not  neces- 
sary to  know  how  to  write  in  order  to  free  lance  in  New  York. 
She  could  not  write  the  simplest  paragraph  without  making  a  mis- 
take as  to  fact;  and  her  writing  was  dull  and  commonplace  in 
style.  She  had,  however,  other  advantages.  She  was  abnor- 
mally industrious  and  abnormally  charming.  Every  one  who  knew 
her  liked  her,  and  would  give  her  material.  She  knew  many 
editors,  and  slipped  easily  into  their  sanctums  to  discuss  ideas  for 
stories.  Consequently,  when  they  wanted  special  stories,  they 
naturally  thought  of  her.  Beyond  all  this  she  had  one  true  and 
very  important  professional  quality.  Her  mind  was  an  idea  mill, 
amazingly  productive  of  subjects  for  articles  which  commended 
themselves  to  editors.  She  not  only  knew  what  the  editors  would 
buy,  but  she  could  supply  them  with  ideas  they  had  not  thought 
of.  She  had  an  instant  and  amazing  success  as  a  free  lance  in 
New  York. 

The  point  of  view  from  which  the  free  lance  is  regarded  varies 
diametrically  with  temperament.  Some  people  instinctively 
desire  a  niche  in  one  of  the  established  institutions  of  society, — 
the  schools,  the  church,  the  organized  charities,  some  great  vested 
interest.  When  they  know  that  this  is  behind  them,  they  feel  con- 
tent and  safe.  They  feel  themselves  part  of  a  great  institution, 
their  income  is  fixed  and  assured,  and  they  are  suited.  Such 
persons  never  believe  a  free  lance  when  she  says  she  does  not 
want  a  position.  The  true  free  lance,  however,  would  not  take 
any  job  at  the  same  money  she  earns  without  it.  It  would  have 
to  be  better  to  tempt  her.  She  does  not  like  to  keep  office  hours, 
to  work  under  orders,  or  feel  herself  a  cog  in  some  great  revolving 
wheel.  She  prefers  to  work  "on  her  own,"  as  the  doctor,  the 
lawyer,  the  dentist,  or  the  artist,  does.  She  dislikes  the  idea  of 
a  direct  employer.  She  accepts  the  greater  freedom  of  indepen- 
dent work  as  compensation  for  the  greater  uncertainty  of  income, 
although,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  income  of  the  free  lance  who  has 


244  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

once  gained  her  footing  preserves  a  stability  which  is  very  curious, 
considering  that  she  never  knows  where  it  is  coming  from. 

For  a  novice  who  contemplates  free  lancing  the  first  essential  is 
that  she  should  like  to  write, — that  she  should  prefer  to  earn  her 
living  that  way  rather  than  any  other.  The  next  essential  is  to 
study  the  Sunday  papers  as  she  would  study  geometry  or  Virgil, 
— study  them  to  find  out  what  the  man  who  edits  them  wants 
and  will  pay  for.  No  free  lance  can  ever  be  successful  who  has 
not  an  interest  in  many  things  outside  of  her  business.  Any  line 
of  thought  whatever  in  which  she  is  interested  will  give  her  ma- 
terial to  write  about,  if  she  knows  how  to  write.  One  free  lance, 
for  instance,  began  to  study  the  Italian  language.  Association 
with  her  teacher  led  her  into  explorations  in  the  Italian  colonies 
in  New  York,  which  enabled  her  to  sell  many  hundreds  of  dol- 
lars' worth  of  Italian  stories  to  New  York  papers  and  magazines. 
If  one  is  interested  in  settlements,  in  missions,  in  charities,  in 
society,  in  bridge,  in  beauty  doctors,  in  theosophy,  it  all  yields 
"stuff."  Albert  Diirer,  they  say,  taking  a  stroll,  beheld  to  his 
very  great  astonishment  a  blue  monkey.  Returning  to  his  studio, 
he  painted  the  blue  monkey  into  a  picture  of  the  Holy  Family. 
The  good  free  lance  will  inevitably  work  every  blue  monkey  she 
sees  into  a  newspaper  story  and  sell  it  for  hard  cash. 


WOMEN  IN  PUBLISHING  HOUSES 
EDITH  A.  WINSHIP 

EDITORIAL  DEPARTMENT,  CHARLES  E.  MERRILL  COMPANY,  NEW  YORK 

The  departments  of  the  publishing  house  in  which  women  are 
chiefly  employed  may  be  classified  in  general  as  financial,  ad- 
vertising, sales,  and  editorial  departments. 

The  financial  department  obviously  is  concerned  with  the  keep- 
ing of  accounts  and  the  related  work.  Women  are  very  gener- 
ally used  by  the  publishers  for  this  work,  as  by  other  business 
houses.  Here  one  looks  for  accuracy,  aptitude  for  figures,  and 
a  certain  steady  reliability.  The  technical  training  in  accounting, 


LITERARY  WORK  245 

oilling,  and  the  various  other  details  of  book-keeping  provided  in 
high  schools  and  business  schools  gives  a  girl  a  good  start;  and 
she  should  be  able,  as  she  proves  her  worth,  to  rise  to  a  well- 
paid  position  of  responsibility. 

The  advertising  department  is  a  good  place  for  a  wide-awake 
girl  with  literary  tastes.  The  soliciting  of  advertisements,  which 
is  limited  to  the  magazine  field,  is  the  man's  province.  But  in 
the  book  publishing  business  the  advertising  department  is  con- 
cerned with  providing  ammunition  to  help  sell  the  books.  This 
work  women  can  do  and  are  doing  in  many  publishing  houses. 
This  department  issues  catalogues,  circulars,  announcements  of 
new  books,  advertisements  in  newspapers  and  magazines,  liter- 
ary notes  about  authors  and  books,  and  other  devices  of  modern 
advertising.  The  assistant  to  the  advertising  manager  should  be 
a  good  judge  of  both  books  and  people.  She  can  train  herself 
for  the  work  chiefly  by  the  practice  that  gives  a  command  of 
words  and  a  ready  pen,  by  studying  the  effective  use  of  type, 
paper,  and  color,  and  by  observing  what  attracts  attention  and 
interest.  She  may  get  her  start  through  stenography  and  type- 
writing; and  with  ability  and  favoring  circumstances  she  should 
be  able  to  advance  into  the  original,  constructive  work  of  the  de- 
partment. 

The  term  "sales  department"  may  here  be  used  to  include  the 
office  work  that  promotes  the  sales  of  publications  through  other 
means  than  are  indicated  for  the  advertising  department.  The 
office  constantly  receives  inquiries  about  publications,  and  these 
must  be  handled  by  an  intelligent  correspondent  who  will  make 
friends  for  the  house  and  sell  its  products.  Good  use  can  here 
be  made  of  a  knowledge  not  only  of  all  the  publications  of  one's 
own  house,  but  of  other  books  in  the  same  field.  The  power  to 
write  a  convincing  letter  must  usually  come  through  training  one's 
self,  for  the  English  courses  in  school  and  college  naturally  tend  to 
a  literary  rather  than  a  business  style  of  writing.  The  writing 
of  business-getting  letters  is  a  sufficient  achievement  for  the  am- 
bitions of  any  girl,  and  success  in  this  line  is  fairly  sure  of  recog- 
nition. 

In  connection  with  the  sales  department  many  records  must  be 
kept,  and  information  and  lists  of  possible  purchasers  must  be 


246  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

gathered  from  the  four  corners,  and  kept  up  to  date  and  usable. 
Such  work  is  usually  done  by  girls.  Training  in  cataloguing  and 
keeping  records,  such  as  is  given  in  library  courses,  is  good  prep- 
aration for  this  work.  Methodical  habits  of  work,  and  ability 
to  sift  and  organize  facts,  a  girl  may,  and  should,  acquire  along 
with  her  study  of  history,  science,  and  other  subjects. 

The  editorial  department  is,  in  most  cases,  the  centre  of  at- 
traction for  the  college  girl;  and  if  she  has  the  right  qualities, 
she  will  find  here  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  all  employments 
for  women.  Manuscripts  are  read  with  a  view  to  deciding 
whether  or  not  the  house  should  publish  them;  if  accepted,  they 
are  edited  and  made  ready  for  the  printer;  illustrations  are  planned 
and  secured;  and  proof  is  read  in  various  stages  until  the  book  is 
ready  to  be  printed.  For  magazines  the  work  is  similar  and  the 
same  equipment  is  needed,  though  the  make-up  of  a  magazine 
presents  a  different  set  of  problems.  Skill  in  proof-reading  is 
usually  the  first  requisite  for  an  applicant  in  the  editorial  depart- 
ment. She  should  have  also  accurate  knowledge  and  good  taste 
in  the  use  of  the  English  language,  and  constructive  as  well  as 
critical  ability.  Much  technical  knowledge  is  needed  for  this 
work — a  knowledge  of  types  and  the  procedure  in  printing-offices, 
of  certain  characteristics  of  drawings  and  photographs,  and  of 
methods  of  reproduction.  Such  information  cannot  be  had  in  any 
degree  from  books  and  lectures:  it  must  be  learned  from  the  in- 
side, from  observation  and  experience.  The  technique  of  proof- 
reading may  be  learned  from  books,  and  with  a  careful  eye  a 
little  practice  will  set  one  going.  A  girl  should  be  content  to 
start  at  almost  any  sort  of  apprentice  work.  Progress  will  come 
as  she  becomes  familiar  with  types  and  the  details  of  book-mak- 
ing, and  proves  ability  to  take  on  editorial  functions  beyond  the 
reading  of  proof. 

Through  all  the  departments  of  a  publishing  house  there  are 
positions  for  the  stenographer  and  secretary — with  the  president, 
manager,  and  other  officers,  the  agents,  and  heads  of  departments. 
The  characteristics  of  such  a  position  are  much  the  same  as  in 
many  other  business  houses;  but  the  work  may  be  especially 
interesting  to  a  girl  who  likes  books.  She  may  reply  to  letters 
without  dictation,  keep  track  of  dates  and  engagements,  inter- 


LITERARY  WORK  247 

view  callers,  seek  out  statistics  and  information,  and  in  various 
ways  exercise  initiative  and  offer  suggestions.  A  knowledge  of 
foreign  languages  may  be  useful.  In  all  these  ways  education 
beyond  the  high  school  counts  well.  Fastidious  English,  good 
style  in  the  mechanics  of  typewriting,  and  the  personal  qualities 
that  make  a  good  "right-hand  man" — all  help  to  make  a  girl 
valuable  in  such  a  position. 

After  all  these  things  have  been  said,  we  must  emphasize  the 
fact  that  publishing  houses  are  not  so  very  numerous,  and  that 
their  positions  for  women  are  not  waiting  for  applicants.  It 
behooves  the  girl  who  is  looking  for  such  a  position  to  adapt  her- 
self to  as  many  of  the  possible  openings  as  her  training  and  per- 
sonal qualifications  will  admit.  She  should  consider  also  allied 
work  outside  of  publishing  houses,  such  as  proof-reading  in  the 
printer's  office,  writing  for  the  advertising  agency,  and  manu- 
script work  for  the  college  professor. 

Of  the  salaries  no  general  statement  can  be  made  with  definite- 
ness.  By  a  well-educated  girl  with  experience  $15  per  week 
should  be  easily  attained;  $25  may  be  regarded  as  the  usual  maxi- 
mum, though  experienced  women  in  positions  of  responsibility 
go  well  above  that  figure.* 

*  According  to  the  report  of  Miss  Gertrude  L.  Marvin,  Wellesley  Fellow  in 
the  Research  Department  of  the  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union, 
the  six  book-publishing  houses  investigated  in  Boston  employ  106  women  and 
131  men;  that  is,  nearly  45  per  cent,  of  the  total  employees  are  women.  But 
of  these  106  women,  only  6  are  holding  responsible  positions,  paying  over  $20  a 
week,  as  contrasted  with  45  men  holding  executive  positions  in  these  same  firms. 
Of  these  6  women  3  receive  $25  a  week.  The  exact  salaries  of  the  others  are 
not  known. — ED. 


248  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 


WORK  IN  A  PUBLISHING    HOUSE 

JESSIE  REID 

ADVERTISING  DEPARTMENT,  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY,  NEW  YORK 

The  difficulty  and  the  abiding  interest  of  work  in  a  publishing 
house  lie  in  the  changing  nature  of  the  commodity  produced. 
The  systematic  distribution  of  soap  or  of  boots  might  pall,  but 
of  books — never.  No  two  offer  the  same  problem.  Even  where 
the  general  subject  may  be  the  same,  two  given  volumes  will 
appeal  to  widely  separate  classes,  and  a  publisher's  success 
depends  upon  his  skill  in  passing  each  book  into  the  hands  of 
possible  buyers  with  the  least  fumbling. 

The  number  of  college  women  employed  in  the  work  is  greatly 
on  the  increase.  Up  to  ten  years  ago  it  was  uncommon  to  find 
graduates  in  the  publishing  offices.  Now  nearly  all  of  the  leading 
houses  have  two,  three,  or  half  a  dozen  on  the  staff  in  positions 
intermediate  between  those  of  stenographers  and  department 
heads.  The  primary  difficulty  is  that  so  much  more  or  less  me- 
chanical detail  has  to  be  learned  that  the  first  year's  work  is 
usually  at  a  salary  of  not  over  $12  a  week,  and  larger  imme- 
diate returns  are  possible  elsewhere. 

Some  publishers  give  each  manuscript  a  careful  reading  in 
their  own  offices.  The  majority  send  all  except  those  obviously 
unsuitable  out  to  one  or  another  of  an  unattached  staff  of  ad- 
visers, basing  action  on  the  report  received.  Some,  after  a  manu- 
script has  been  accepted,  give  it  thorough  scrutiny  before  sending 
it  to  the  printer,  with  a  view  to  forestalling  corrections  at 
a  more  expensive  stage.  Proof-reading  proper  is  the  work  of 
author  and  printer,  but  every  book  needs  supervision  while  in 
press.  It  is  necessary  that  some  one  see  to  it  that  proofs  are 
passing  between  printer  and  author  with  due  regularity;  there 
are  delays,  and  complaints  to  be  investigated;  there  are  often 
illustrations  to  be  supplied  by  the  publisher,  and  arrangements 
must  be  made  for  these;  sometimes  questions  as  to  the  quoting 
of  copyrighted  material  arise,  and  must  be  settled  by  some  one 
in  the  publishers'  office. 


LITERARY  WORK  249 

Where  many  school  books  are  published,  a  "reviser"  is  kept 
busy  indicating  changes  needed  to  keep  them  up  to  date,  geog- 
raphies, for  example.  In  some  cases,  indexes,  etc.,  are  made  in 
the  publishing  offices,  but  usually  such  a  detail  is  privately  ar- 
ranged for  by  the  author. 

Publicity  work  includes  supplying  literary  editors  in  all  the 
different  cities  with  information  about  books  in  preparation  or 
recently  published.  Reviews  are  not  often  written  by  the  pub- 
lishing houses,  but  the  machinery  of  distributing  books  for  review, 
specimen  illustrations,  or  extracts,  or  authors'  portraits,  requires 
or  offers  the  opportunity  for  a  skilful  discrimination.  There 
are  also  special  descriptive  circulars  to  be  prepared,  and  the 
formal  advertising;  while  the  province  of  special  cataloguing, 
spring  and  fall  announcement  lists,  etc.,  is  limited  only  by  the 
amount  the  firm  is  willing  to  spend,  and  that  in  turn  depends 
upon  the  attractiveness  with  which  they  can  be  designed  and 
written. 

Another  field  where  a  publisher  finds  educated  help  service- 
able is  in  establishing  relations  with  possible  customers.  If  a 
house  publishes  many  reference  books  or  scholarly  works  on 
special  subjects,  it  is  desirable  to  list  the  names  and  addresses  of 
the  comparatively  few  men  who  own  technical  libraries  or  whose 
good  word  may  introduce  the  book  to  others.  Such  lists  ob- 
tained by  carefully  trying  out  the  membership  lists  of  certain 
clubs  or  names  otherwise  gathered  are  frequently  valuable  assets. 
Where  educational  books  of  college  grade  are  published,  lists 
are  kept  of  all  men  teaching  a  given  subject  in  any  part  of  the 
country,  and  they  are  fully  informed  as  to  the  contents  or  special 
character  of  any  book  upon  their  subject  as  soon  as  it  is  published, 
and  often  earlier. 

Special  correspondence  with  schools,  with  libraries,  secretaries 
of  reading  circles,  and  women's  clubs,  is  another  section  of  the 
work  of  introducing  a  new  book.  One  publishing  house  which 
issues  a  cyclopedia  has  liberally  offered,  though  not  in  so  many 
words,  to  supply  by  correspondence  any  information  lacking  in 
the  same.  At  any  rate,  it  employs  three  women,  of  whom  at 
least  one  is  a  college  graduate,  in  the  research  work  needed  to 
answer  the  numerous  questions  received  in  reply. 


250  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

Of  course,  where  the  house  in  question  publishes  periodicals 
as  well  as  books,  there  are  still  further  opportunities,  but 
these  belong  rather  to  editorial  lines  of  occupation  than  to 
publishing. 

Of  original  "literary"  work  there  is  comparatively  little. 
For  the  most  part,  the  work  is  plain  commercial  drudgery.  No 
two  houses  divide  their  work  on  precisely  the  same  system,  and 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  make  comparative  statements  as  to 
salary.  Perhaps  it  is  safe  to  say  that  list-building,  writing  de- 
scriptive and  "follow-up"  letters  and  ordinary  circulars,  are  paid 
for  at  from  $12  to  $25  a  week,  ranging  from  a  beginner  to  experi- 
enced fair  ability.  Exceptional  ability,  especially  in  the  direc- 
tion of  preparing  advertising  material  and  distributing  it  in  such 
a  way  as  to  get  results,  commands  exceptional  rewards.  At  its 
worst,  there  is  no  more  drudgery  than  in  any  commercial  business, 
and  there  is  always  the  savor  of  sporting  interest  in  the  success 
or  failure  of  each  new  book. 


EDUCATED   WOMEN   IN  MAGAZINE  WORK 

JAMES  EATON  TOWER 

EDITOR,  "Goon  HOUSEKEEPING  MAGAZINE" 

Is  there  a  considerable  and  growing  field  for  educated  young 
women  in  the  editing,  manufacture,  and  circulating  of  magazines? 
May  we  expect  to  see  college  graduates  turning  to  this  field  in 
large  numbers  rather  than  entering  the  crowded  ranks  of  the 
teachers?  What  is  "magazine  work,"  as  a  woman  finds  it?  and 
how  well  does  it  pay?  Are  there  many  young  women  already 
at  work  in  this  field,  enough  of  them  to  demonstrate  their  ca- 
pacity and  fitness?  These  questions,  I  presume,  fairly  cover  the 
problem  as  the  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union  wants 
to  lay  it  before  young  women. 

The  subject  might  be  dismissed  in  a  summary  manner  because 
the  magazines  which  our  friends  have  in  mind  are  so  few.  There 
are  less  than  one  hundred  magazines,  all  told,  of  the  scope  and 


LITERARY  WORK  251 

standard  to  make  any  particular  appeal  to  educated  young  women. 
Of  trade  monthlies  and  weeklies,  devoted  to  the  interests  of  scores 
or  even  hundreds  of  trades  and  professions,  there  is  a  very  large 
number,  but  owing  to  their  technical  character  they  offer  no  spe- 
cial attractions  or  opportunities  outside  the  familiar  channels  of 
business.  Of  magazines  for  women  which  are  entitled  to  recog- 
nition in  this  article  there  are  about  thirty.  Of  those  for  the 
family  and  individual,  irrespective  of  sex,  which  we  may  term  for 
convenience  the  magazines  of  news,  miscellany,  and  literature, 
there  are  in  the  neighborhood  of  seventy.  Here,  then,  are  one 
hundred  magazines,  in  round  numbers,  which  employ  young 
women  in  larger  or  smaller  numbers.  Suppose  each  one  offers 
two  vacancies  a  year,  of  a  character  to  interest  the  young  woman 
of  education.  It  is  the  exceptional  girl,  among  the  army  of 
thousands  of  yearly  alumnae,  who  finds  work  of  this  description — 
exceptional  in  a  commercial  way,  at  least.  But  she  ought  not 
to  be  too  exceptional  in  character,  training,  and  her  outlook 
upon  life. 

"Magazine  work"  sounds  refined  and  genteel.  A  magazine 
comes  out  at  intervals  of  four  weeks,  without  the  breathless 
scramble  of  the  daily  newspaper;  it  wears  a  finer  garb,  is  presumed 
to  be  more  leisurely  in  its  production.  It  is  a  well-groomed  "par- 
lor pet"  beside  its  workaday  brother,  the  newspaper.  But  let 
us  look  behind  the  scenes,  to  the  methods  of  production.  It  is 
natural  to  think  of  the  daily  newspaper  as  the  vanguard,  fight- 
ing its  stern  way  ahead,  while  the  magazines  come  leisurely  and 
elegantly  behind.  In  these  days  of  "national  journalism"  the 
precise  opposite  is  true.  The  daily  newspaper  is  living  in  the 
hours  of  to-morrow  or  next  week;  the  magazine  is  away  ahead, 
scouting  on  the  frontier  of  next  year  and  the  year  after.  To 
shift  our  metaphor,  if  the  newspaper  is  floating  on  the  currents 
of  thought  and  action,  riding  the  highest  wave,  the  magazine 
worker  has  found  the  undercurrents,  often  the  deepest  of  them, 
and  is  months  in  advance  of  popular  knowledge  and  thought.  In^ 
deed,  he  must  be.  A  magazine  of  large  circulation,  printed  and 
illustrated  with  care,  closes  its  forms  from  six  weeks  to  three 
months  before  the  date  of  issue.  The  writing  of  the  articles,  the 
drawing  of  the  pictures,  and  the  engraving  of  the  plates  is  a  slow 


252  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

process.  A  Christmas  number,  for  example,  must  be  planned 
the  previous  winter,  for  the  text  and  drawings  must  be  ready  for 
printers  and  engravers  before  the  summer  vacation. 

The  "news"  of  national  journalism  is  gathered  by  men  and 
women  who  travel  the  continent  and  the  world  over  for  their 
material,  seeking  first  of  all  to  detect  developments  and  changes 
and  sound  the  deeper  currents  of  thought  and  feeling.  National 
journalism  is  none  too  large  a  term  for  the  editorial  policy  of 
the  leading  magazines  for  women.  The  vast  feminist  move- 
ment, as  they  term  it  in  Europe,  is  quite  as  active  in  the  United 
States  of  America  as  in  any  or  all  of  the  European  countries,  and 
is  so  varied,  so  rapid,  and  so  extensive  in  its  scope  as  to  demand 
journalistic  training  or  journalistic  instinct  of  the  first  quality  to 
grapple  with  it.  A  love  for  belles-lettres,  skill  in  furbishing  son- 
nets, are  no  longer  the  prime  requisites  of  the  responsible  magazine 
worker.  Magazine  production  is,  it  seems  to  me,  merely  post- 
graduate newspaper  work.  My  remarks  upon  national  journal- 
ism may  help  the  reader  to  see  the  nature  of  the  demand  upon  the 
magazine  worker  who  would  get  beyond  the  minor,  small-sal- 
aried positions.  The  condition  here  briefly  described  may  also 
help  to  account  for  the  number  of  men  employed  in  producing 
magazines  for  women.  Women  qualified  by  natural  endowment 
and  training  to  undertake  the  serious  work  of  magazine  editing 
are  no  doubt  occupying  positions  of  equal  or  greater  exaltation 
elsewhere, — largely  because  the  extensive  development  of  mag- 
azines is  of  recent  origin. 

Recurring  to  the  peculiar  demands  upon  the  magazine  editor 
of  to-day  and  upon  the  editor  of  a  woman's  magazine  in  partic- 
ular, we  must  not  overlook  the  mercantile  aspects  of  the  prob- 
lem. A  magazine  addressed  to  the  mass  of  women  is  like  a  de- 
partment store,  with  its  manifold  branches  of  trade.  Here  come 
in  play  the  instinct  and  judgment  of  the  daughter  of  Eve,  un- 
spoiled by  education — or,  rather,  over-education.  The  editors 
are  very  like  the  department  store  buyers,  compelled  to  get  what 
the  rank  and  file  of  women  want, — always  in  consonance  with 
high  ideals.  Right  here  the  male  mind,  less  prone  to  be  diverted 
by  special  tastes  or  interests,  better  able  by  training  to  keep  the 
whole  field  in  view,  the  commercial  instinct  more  keenly  devel- 


LITERARY  WORK  253 

oped,  often  has  the  advantage  and  the  lead.  In  so  far  as  the 
higher  education  truly  broadens  the  sympathies  and  understand- 
ing of  girls,  enables  them  to  put  themselves  in  the  places  of  their 
less  fortunate  sisters  and  to  guide  and  help  them  while  catering 
to  them,  it  aids  in  fitting  them  for  work  like  this.  Whatever 
tends  toward  intellectual  snobbery  is,  of  course,  a  drawback  in 
any  department  of  magazine  work.  The  most  conspicuously 
successful  woman  editor  in  the  American  magazine  field  is  not  a 
graduate  of  a  college,  but  of  the  "city  room"  of  a  great  daily. 
From  such  sources  have  come  many  of  the  most  brilliant  authors 
of  the  present  generation.  It  is  safe  to  say,  I  think,  that  a  large 
majority  of  the  magazine  editors  were  once  newspaper  workers. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  educative  branches  of  news- 
paper work  is  the  conduct  of  a  local  weekly,  in  city,  suburb,  or 
country.  A  good  many  young  women,  some  of  them  college 
graduates,  are  taking  it  up,  with  excellent  results.  The  reason 
a  greater  number  do  not,  I  presume,  is  because  it  usually  requires 
the  command  of  capital.  For  a  girl  of  literary  tastes,  imbued  with 
a  desire  to  understand  and  serve  her  fellow-creatures,  the  editing 
of  a  local  weekly  seems  to  me  one  of  the  very  best  occupations. 
The  standard  of  the  local  press  the  country  over  is  rapidly  rising. 
The  advent  of 'educated  women  in  the  profession  would  acceler- 
ate this  improvement,  while  augmenting  the  ranks  of  practical 
literary  workers  in  all  departments, — newspaper  and  magazine 
editors  and  writers  and  the  authors  of  books.  The  local  editor 
goes  straight  to  original  sources, — to  human  nature.  A  shrewd 
understanding  of  human  nature,  a  real  sympathy  with  it,  is  the 
secret  of  success  in  magazine  work,  as  in  running  a  department 
store,  a  church,  or  a  circus. 

We  editors  want  representative  young  women  as  our  co-workers. 
The  right  training,  whether  in  college  or  in  the  newspaper  har- 
ness, or  in  both,  should  make  them  representative.  Plans,  ideas, 
articles,  must  often  be  "tried  on"  a  person  or  persons  near  at 
hand,  and  experience  demonstrates  that  those  who  come  nearest 
to  representing  the  rank  and  file  are  the  safest  guides.  How 
directly  this  principle  applies  to  manuscript  readers  can  be  readily 
seen.  An  editor  or  a  book  publisher  must  have  what  is  commonly 
termed  "judgment"  in  readers,  an  instinct  or  sense  for  what  the 


254  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

public  wants,  in  order  not  to  lose  the  best  specimens  from  the  in- 
flowing manuscripts. 

A  young  woman  possessed  of  the  higher  education,  so  called, 
and  filled  with  ambition,  will  hardly  aspire  to  seek  and  hold  the 
very  minor  positions  in  magazine  publishing  houses.  There  are 
proof-readers  and  copy-holders,  stenographers,  clerical  workers, 
and  outdoor  solicitors  and  organizers  in  the  circulation  and  ad- 
vertising departments,  though  the  feminine  advertising  solici- 
tor is  yet  a  rarity.  It  has  seemed  to  the  present  writer  that 
there  are  places  now  and  then  in  the  circulation  departments 
for  college  women  of  executive  ability  and  resource.  These 
"jobs  "  are  not  for  the  shy  violets  of  literature,  but  for  the  pushers, 
who  are  as  likely  to  develop  in  college  as  elsewhere.  The  more 
education,  the  bigger  and  broader  the  woman,  the  greater  the 
chances  of  success.  On  the  editorial  side,  too,  such  women  are 
winning  and  holding  positions  of  responsibility.  Why  may  not 
one  of  the  great  publishers  of  a  generation  to  come  be  a  woman  of 
this  type? 

An  effort  was  made  to  secure  from  the  magazines,  notably  those 
for  women,  statistics  of  feminine  employment.  The  returns  were 
scanty.  The  managing  editor  of  one  magazine  makes  clear  the 
fact  that  the  relative  merits  of  college  women  and  others  in  their 
establishment  have  scarcely  challenged  study.  He  says : — 

In  the  editorial  department  we  have  employed  first  and  last  a  num- 
ber of  college  graduates,  although  they  have  made  up  only  a  small  per- 
centage of  the  staff  as  a  whole.  There  is  not  a  grain  of  doubt  in  my  mind 
that  it  has  been  a  decided  advantage  to  us  to  have  college  girls  on  the 
staff.  I  would  not  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  I  think  all  of  the  women  on 
the  staff  should  be  graduates,  but  it  certainly  is  a  help  to  have  some  of 
them;  and  if  we  were  about  to  fill  a  vacancy,  and  the  choice  lay  be- 
tween a  graduate  and  one  who  was  not  a  graduate,  all  other  things  being 
equal,  it  is  almost  certain  that  we  should  take  the  graduate.  I  can't 
conceive  of  our  doing  otherwise. 

The  editor  of  another  magazine  for  women  writes: 

We  have  both  college  women  and  women  who  have  never  been  inside 
a  college  in  this  office.  I  fiud  that  college  training  or  lack  of  col- 


LITERARY  WORK  255 

lege  training  seems  to  make  no  difference  in  the  value  of  their  work, 
so  far  as  these  particular  individuals  are  concerned.  So  far  as  the  matter 
of  education  goes,  of  course  I  believe  that  the  college  woman  has  better 
training,  and,  other  things  being  equal,  should  do  better  work  than  the 
woman  without  a  college  education. 

While  many  editors  admit  in  this  general  fashion  that  a  col- 
lege education  is  an  advantage  for  editorial  positions,  few  lay 
particular  emphasis  upon  it.  Two  frankly  prefer  previous  news- 
paper experience:  another  values  training  in  English  and  general 
breadth  of  information.  No  large  per  cent,  of  those  reported  in 
editorial  positions  are  college  graduates. 

Somewhat  general  information  as  regards  the  positions  which 
women  now  hold  in  magazine  publishing  houses  has  come  from 
fifteen  magazines  of  various  types,  from  the  most  popular  to  the 
most  dignified.  Of  the  four  magazines  for  women,  but  one  has  a 
woman  as  its  editor.  She  writes,  however,  of  women  on  her  own 
and  other  magazines  published  by  her  house  as  editors,  sub- 
editors, and  manuscript  readers.  Ten  other  magazines  are  re- 
ported as  having  women  in  one  or  another  of  these  capacities  or 
in  unnamed  positions  of  some  responsibility  in  the  editorial  de- 
partment. One  of  the  most  conservative  monthly  magazines  has 
a  woman  on  its  staff  as  editorial  reader;  but  "no  one  ever  fills 
this  position  who  has  not  special  qualifications  for  the  work." 
For  this  position  "a  college  education,  supplemented  by  broad  and 
wide  reading,"  is  considered  "essential."  The  editor  of  a  popu- 
lar monthly  magazine  writes: — 

Women   are   employed   in   practically  every  part  of  our  business, — 

editorial,  advertising,  circulation,  and  business  departments.     Miss 

is,  of  course,  one  of  our  most  responsible  editors.  The  head  of  our  sub- 
scription department,  who  has  charge  of  50  or  60  girls,  is  a  young 
woman. 

Only  four  out  of  the  fifteen  magazines  heard  from  have  no 
women  other  than  clerks  in  the  editorial  department. 

For  positions  of  responsibility  in  other  departments  the  ap- 
proach seems  to  lie  largely  through  clerical  work,  such  as  that  of 


256  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

the  50  or  60  girls  just  mentioned.  In  the  advertising  depart- 
ment of  one  magazine  for  women  the  proportion  of  women  to  men 
is  10  to  7,  but  "the  women  employed  are  principally  filing  and 
checking  clerks  and  stenographers."  In  the  circulation  depart- 
ment of  the  same  magazine  the  proportion  is  10  to  1,  but  "the 
labor  is  unskilled."  On  another  monthly  magazine  women  num- 
ber 50  per  cent,  in  the  advertising  department,  50  per  cent,  in 
the  book-keeping,  and  95  per  cent,  in  the  subscription  department. 
Another  magazine,  which  employs  no  women  in  the  editorial 
department,  has  elsewhere  a  proportion  of  6  to  1.  It  employs 
approximately  200  women  in  the  busy  season  from  October  to 
February,  and  75  all  the  year  round.  Obviously,  these  are 
clerks.  Their  "help  is  used  mostly  in  the  subscription  and  cir- 
culation department.  They  keep  all  the  records  of  the  advertis- 
ing department  and  do  the  work  in  the  cashier  and  book-keeping 
department  with  one  man  to  oversee  them."  Clearly,  too,  in 
all  these  cases  the  larger  the  proportion  of  women,  the  less  re- 
sponsible the  position.  Only  a  few  positions  of  responsibility, 
outside  of  the  editorial  department,  were  cited:  cashier  and  as- 
sistant cashier,  general  secretary  of  the  office  on  a  magazine  with 
a  small  staff;  head  of  a  department,  in  one  case  a  small  branch  of 
the  circulation  department  with  charge  of  a  subscription  scheme 
among  women  and  girls,  in  another  the  whole  subscription  de- 
partment. One  magazine  house,  however,  employs  a  woman  in 
what  would  seem  to  be  one  of  the  most  important  positions 
mentioned, — to  manage  its  literary  bulletin  and  to  look  after 
its  interests  in  the  newspapers. 

Opinions  as  to  the  chance  of  women's  rising  to  positions  of 
responsibility  in  magazine  work  are  varied.  Two  editors  give  no 
hope  of  women's  holding  any  position  above  that  of  clerk  or 
cashier.  One  offers  very  slow  advance  from  a  clerkship  at  $6  a 
week  to  the  headship  of  a  department  at  $15  for  the  able  woman 
without  training  in  stenography  and  $18  for  the  woman  specially 
trained.  Eight  explicitly  state  that  the  chance  of  rising  to  posi- 
tions of  responsibility  is  almost  as  good  or  as  good  for  able,  edu- 
cated women  as  for  men.  Five  houses  offer  $6  as  the  minimum 
wage;  one  gives  $10  as  the  maximum;  one,  $18;  three,  $25.  Three 
houses  give  a  different  range.  One  begins  with  $5  to  $10,  leav- 


LITERARY  WORK  257 

ing  the  maximum  to  the  individual, — to  the  woman  "just  the 
same  as  to  the  man."  Another  states  approximately  $15  to 
$30,  without  making  the  maximum  fixed.  A  third  suggests  $20 
to  $40,  the  maximum  implying  "unusual  ability  in  management." 
These  three  houses  employ  women  in  positions  of  distinct  re- 
sponsibility in  the  editorial  department. 

The  reasons  suggested  for  low  pay  and  limitation  of  oppor- 
tunity are  worth  noting.  The  firm  mentioned  above  as  employ- 
ing a  large  number  of  women  clerks  writes : — 

The  wages  paid  in  all  departments  to  women  range  from  $6  to  $18 
a  week.  The  average  would  be  $8,  which  means  that  there  are  not 
very  many  earning  the  higher  wages.  We  believe  that  the  scale  in  our 
office  is  the  prevailing  scale  in  the  publishing  business,  and  that  the  pub- 
lishing scale  is  lower  than  that  of  other  lines  of  business  where  the  same 
quality  of  brains  is  employed  to  do  clerical  work.  We  cannot  explain 
that  except  by  the  law  of  demand  and  supply. 

Another  firm  says: — 

The  opportunities  for  women  to  rise  to  responsible  positions  are  not 
so  great  as  for  men;  but  in  work  that  is  confined  solely  to  the  inside  of  the 
office  and  does  not  require  outside  contact,  women  have  an  excellent  chance. 

And  another: — 

While  we  have  not  yet  found  a  woman  who  has  been  seriously  con- 
sidered for  the  very  first  positions,  I  think  it  may  safely  be  said  that  there 
is  no  discrimination,  but  that  women  would  have,  all  things  considered, 
practically  as  good  a  chance  as  men,  though  we  prefer  men  where  it  is 
necessary  to  send  out  investigators. 

As  the  last  two  firms  mention  the  largest  number  of  women  in 
responsible  positions  and  name  the  largest  salaries,  their  words 
carry  weight. 

A  woman  connected  with  one  of  the  magazines  for  women  edited 
by  a  man  writes  as  follows : — 

I  am  not  at  all  sure  that  my  reason  for  believing  there  should  be  a 
man  on  the  editorial  staff  of  a  woman's  magazine  is  a  good  one,  but  I 
have  observed  that  the  most  successful  magazines  for  women  are  run 


258  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

by  men.     They  have,  I  imagine,  the  kind  of  business  ability  that  is  neces- 
sary. 

Still  another  possible  limitation  is  suggested  by  the  words 
of  another  managing  editor: — 

Sex  makes  no  difference.  It  all  depends  on  the  individual.  It  is 
altogether  a  case  of  usefulness,  particularly  of  the  degree  in  which  initiative 
is  developed. 

Apparently,  the  field  of  magazine  work  is  still  debatable  ground, 
with  some  women  doing  good  pioneer  work  and  some  men  giving 
hearty  encouragement.  As  in  other  fields  where  business  sense 
is  of  prime  importance,  women  have  still  to  prove  their  ability 
for  the  highest  achievement.  Evidently,  they  must  more  fully 
demonstrate  their  value  in  minor  positions,  that  they  may  not 
be  secured  more  cheaply  than  men.  In  the  higher  places  they 
must  prove  their  business  sense,  their  powers  of  initiative  and 
of  execution,  their  ability  to  deal  largely  and  impersonally  with 
men  and  events  and  ideas. — ED. 


INDEXING 

JULIA  E.  ELLIOTT 

INDEXER,  NEW  YORK 

Indexing  naturally  falls  into  two  general  divisions,  which  for 
convenience  we  may  call  literary  and  commercial.  These,  again, 
have  innumerable  subdivisions,  some  of  which  require  special 
fitness  and  training,  aside  from  a  knowledge  of  foundation  prin- 
ciples, to  develop  successfully.  Book  and  magazine  indexing 
fall  under  the  literary  heading,  and  are  what  we  commonly  think 
of  when  we  speak  of  indexing.  Commercial  indexing,  often  called 
"systems,"  "filing,"  or  some  other  commercial  term,  includes  the 
filing  and  indexing  of  correspondence  and  trade  catalogues;  and 
in  this  day  of  card  systems  for  business  records,  the  principles 
are  applied  to  various  book-keeping  and  accounting  systems. 


LITERARY  WORK  259 

That  the  indexing  field  and  its  possibilities  are  very  great  is 
undeniable,  but  like  many  another  profession  the  beginnings  have 
been  the  outgrowth  of  necessity,  and  have  been  very  small  and 
slow  of  development.  Publishers  have  been  slow  to  recognize  the 
great  value  of  good  indexes,  because  the  saving  in  time  is  to  the 
user  and  not  to  the  producer.  From  their  point  of  view  a  good 
index  is  a  direct  cash  outlay  without  a  corresponding  cash  in- 
come: hence  a  very  casual  examination  of  a  miscellaneous  col- 
lection of  books  from  different  publishers  will  reveal  a  very  few 
with  good  indexes,  many  with  very  poor  and  inadequate  ones, 
and  a  large  majority  without  any.  We  find  a  larger  proportion 
and  a  better  quality  of  indexes  in  periodicals,  because  they  have 
proved  a  necessity  to  the  editors  in  avoiding  duplication  and  con- 
tradictions, and  in  answering  many  editorial  questions  of  policy 
and  practice.  The  past  ten  years  have  seen  a  great  advance, 
however,  and  it  is  most  encouraging  that  a  few  publishers  are 
producing  uniformly  excellent  indexes.  The  demand  for  trained 
indexers  is  increasing. 

In  the  commercial  world,  business  men  have  been  quicker  to 
recognize  the  money  value  of  accurate  and  intelligent  indexes. 
Many  large  concerns  have  spared  neither  time  nor  money  in  de- 
vising excellent  systems  adequate  to  their  needs,  but  such  systems 
are,  as  a  rule,  local  and  individual,  and  not  by  any  means  univer- 
sal. 

The  opportunities  for  training  in  these  various  lines  are  very 
limited.  The  writer  has  been  unable  to  locate  a  single  business 
college  that  offers  a  good  practical  course  in  commercial  indexing. 
All  say  that  they  teach  it  in  a  general  way,  meaning  that  they 
explain  the  use  of  the  various  filing  systems  on  the  market,  in 
about  the  same  way  that  the  manufacturer  does,  while  the  real 
work  of  indexing,  with  all  its  problems  of  the  choice  of  names, 
cross-references,  indication  of  subjects,  and  actual  working  out 
of  details,  is  left  for  the  student  to  experiment  with  and  learn  at 
the  expense  of  his  employers.  It  is  true  that  it  is  the  function 
of  a  school  to  supply  rather  than  create  a  demand,  but  in  this 
instance  it  would  seem  as  if  the  business  college  had  missed  a  great 
opportunity.  Book  indexing  is  given  a  place  in  the  curriculum 
of  the  various  library  schools.  The  longest  course  in  any  one 


260  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED   WOMAN 

school  consists  of  twelve  lessons,  and  the  shortest  of  three,  both 
too  short  to  give  a  thorough  training  in  even  one  class  of  book 
indexing,  but  all  that  the  crowded  schedules  are  justified  in  as- 
signing to  this  subject  at  the  present  time.  It  will  be  seen,  then, 
that  the  training  in  either  case  must  come,  in  the  apprenticeship 
fashion,  from  actual  doing,  based  upon  the  meagre  instruction 
received  in  business  colleges  and  library  schools. 

The  qualifications  of  a  good  indexer  are  varied.  The  most 
important  is  a  good  working  knowledge  of  business  methods,  and 
the  point  of  view  of  the  business  man,  in  the  one  instance;  and 
a  broad  general  knowledge  of  books  and  subjects,  and  the  point  of 
view  of  the  reader,  in  the  other.  In  addition  an  analytical  habit 
of  mind,  good  judgment,  systematic  methods,  a  capacity  for  de- 
tail, accuracy,  and  infinite  patience  are  indispensable. 

The  compensation  that  may  be  expected  is  difficult  to  state 
accurately,  because  there  are  comparatively  few  strictly  index- 
ing positions:  hence  the  salary  depends  more  upon  the  experi- 
ence, training,  and  efficiency  for  other  kinds  of  positions  which 
merely  include  indexing  as  a  minor  part  of  the  work  required. 
The  range  of  salaries  is  approximately  from  $600  to  $1,200  per 
year,  with  a  safe  average  of  $900. 

The  outlook,  however,  is  most  encouraging.  Not  only  are 
publishers  awakening  to  the  necessity  of  good  indexes  in  books 
and  magazines,  but  there  is  a  practically  unlimited  field  in  na- 
tional, state,  and  municipal  records,  the  various  publications 
of  societies  and  institutions,  and  the  extension  of  commercial 
indexing.  Women  with  a  pioneer  spirit  will  find  the  work  most 
attractive  if  fitted  for  it  by  natural  ability  and  personal  taste. 
It  offers  an  opportunity  for  originality,  organization,  and  inven- 
tion practically  unhampered  by  precedent. 


LITERARY   WORK  261 


TRANSLATING 

HELOISE  BRAINERD 

OF  THE  STAFF  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL,  BUREAU  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLICS 

Translating  is  work  which  appeals  to  the  scholar.  It  is  need- 
less to  say  that  no  one  should  attempt  it  who  does  not  find  lan- 
guage study  easy  and  enjoyable.  Next  to  that,  perhaps,  natural 
facility  for  expression  is  the  most  important  factor,  for  not  every 
good  student  makes  a  satisfactory  translator.  There  are  two 
extremes  to  steer  between, — too  great  literalness  and  too  great 
freedom  of  rendering.  It  has  been  said  with  considerable  truth 
that  every  translator  criticises  the  work  of  every  other.  The 
Italian  proverb  has  it,  Traduttore,  tradittore  ("a  translator,  a 
traitor"),  and  so  he  is,  without  perfect  knowledge  of  his  subject. 
But  it  gives  a  zest  to  know  that  there  is  always  room  for  improve- 
ment. The  true  student  finds  keen  delight  in  searching  out  exact 
meanings,  weighing  the  force  of  similar  expressions,  and  discov- 
ering the  idioms  which  are  most  nearly  equivalent  in  different 
languages,  though  often  totally  unlike  in  literal  content. 

It  must  be  said  regretfully  that  very  few  persons  who  learn 
a  foreign  tongue  after  they  are  grown  ever  attain  to  a  real  com- 
mand of  the  written  language.  Over  and  over  one  finds  foreigners, 
men  of  scholarship  and  culture,  who  have  lived  many  years  in 
this  country,  making  mistakes  on  every  page  they  write.  Can 
we  expect  to  do  better?  It  is,  therefore,  much  easier  and  more 
satisfactory  to  confine  one's  self  to  translating  into  one's  own 
language.  This  is  a  narrower  field,  and  is  more  useful  in  foreign 
countries  than  in  the  United  States,  as  naturally  the  greatest 
demand  here  is  for  translation  into  Spanish,  Portuguese,  or  French, 
as  the  case  may  be. 

With  regard  to  the  training  needed,  too  much  cannot  be  said 
as  to  the  necessity,  after  a  good  grammar  foundation  has  been 
obtained,  of  gaining  a  practical  working  knowledge  through  every- 
day, familiar  association  with  those  whose  native  tongue  one  is 
learning,  hearing  and  speaking  nothing  else.  By  far  the  best 


262  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

way  is  to  spend  from  one  to  three  years  in  a  foreign  country, 
living  in  a  private  family  where  there  are  young  people,  and  gain- 
ing in  the  home,  the  shops,  the  theatres,  a  vocabulary  which  is 
not  found  in  books.  Knowledge  of  literature  as  such  is  valuable, 
but  it  does  not  help  much  in  commercial  translating,  although 
constant  reading  is  as  important  as  practice  in  speech.  Along 
with  the  dictionary,  personal  explanation  of  obscure  words  or 
passages  is  invaluable.  In  this  connection  it  might  be  well  to 
suggest  the  early  purchase  of  a  first-class  dictionary  all  in  French, 
for  example,  not  French-English.  It  may  take  longer  to  ascertain 
the  meaning  of  a  word,  but  in  all  probability  one  or  two  others 
will  have  been  acquired  by  the  way.  A  course  of  study  in  a  foreign 
college  would  i>e  excellent.  Learning  stenography  and  taking 
dictation,  which  is  possible  after  a  fair  speaking  knowledge  is 
obtained,  affords  one  of  the  best  means  of  acquiring  idiom. 

Where  it  is  impracticable  to  go  to  a  foreign  country  for  this 
training,  there  are  in  New  York,  and  probably  in  other  cities,. 
Spanish  boarding-houses  where  helpful  practice  could  be  had. 
Very  likely  there  are  French  and  Italian  boarding-houses  also. 
Here,  however,  the  association  can  be  only  partial. 

The  field  of  translation  divides  itself  into  literary  and  commer- 
cial work.  The  former  is,  of  course,  dependent  upon  the  pos- 
session of  literary  ability.  On  the  commercial  side  it  must  be 
stated  frankly  that  the  opportunities  are  very  limited.  There 
are  a  very  few  governmental  positions  in  Washington  and  in  the 
custom-houses,  immigration  offices,  etc., of  our  ports,  where  various 
languages  are  used.  Some  firms,  manufacturers  of  patent  medi- 
cines for  instance,  require  translation  into  most  of  the  European 
tongues  of  catalogues,  labels,  and  other  advertising  matter,  but 
the  chief  demand  is  for  Spanish.  Our  trade  with  the  Spanish- 
American  countries  is  increasing  rapidly,  and  along  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  coasts  especially  many  shipping  houses  carry  on 
correspondence  in  that  language.  There  are  also  in  the  United 
States  several  trade  journals  printed  in  Spanish. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  great  numbers  of 
Cubans  and  Porto  Ricans  have  come  to  this  country  of  recent 
years,  as  well  as  Mexicans  and  South  Americans,  who  largely 
supply  this  need.  In  many  cases  they  have  not  had  a  sufficiently 


LITERARY  WORK  263 

broad  education,  and  in  this,  as  in  other  lines  of  work,  it  is  true 
that  there  is  "room  at  the  top";  but  the  well-educated  foreigner 
has  two  advantages :  so  long  as  he  stays  in  this  country,  he  con- 
tinues to  learn,  and  the  most  important  translating  required  is 
into  his  native  tongue,  not  into  English. 

The  payment  of  such  services  varies  as  much  as  that  of  steno- 
graphic or  clerical  work.  The  great  influx  of  our  West  Indian 
neighbors  referred  to  above  has  made  it  possible  to  obtain  a  trans- 
lator at  $40  or  $50  a  month.  Such  work  is  poorly  done,  of  course; 
but  it  affects  the  whole  scale  of  wages.  Good  translators  doing 
general  work,  such  as  correspondence  or  magazine  articles,  sel- 
dom receive  over  $100  a  month.  In  general,  it  may  be  said  that 
the  remuneration  varies  according  to  the  technicality  of  the  work. 
The  translation  of  legal,  patent,  engineering,  or  other  scientific 
matter,  is  paid  for  at  double  or  treble  the  ordinary  rates,  but  the 
ability  to  do  such  work  naturally  requires  special  study  of  the 
subject,  just  as  a  lawyer  has  sometimes  to  master  a  whole  branch 
of  learning  in  order  to  plead  a  case. 

In  summing  up,  it  may  be  said  that  the  work  of  translating  is 
delightful  and  instructive,  but  its  practical  sphere  for  American 
women  is  limited,  and  the  way  to  desirable  positions  is  long  and 
difficult.  If,  however,  one  has  the  time  and  inclination  to  per- 
fect one's  training  before  entering  the  field,  one  will  find  the  occupa- 
tion both  profitable  and  enjoyable. 


VIII 
ART 

ILLUSTRATING 

Three  lines  of  work  are  here  included  under  illustrating:  illus- 
trating for  books  and  magazines  of  the  general  literary  and  artis- 
tic type,  which  is  what  one  commonly  means  by  the  term;  draw- 
ing models  for  fashion  magazines,  newspapers,  catalogues,  which 
is  generally  known  as  fashion  drawing;  and  illustrating  for  adver- 
tising purposes, — a  particularly  good  commercial  outlet  for  ability 
in  either  of  the  two  lines  mentioned. 

1.  The  training  necessary  for  a  good  illustrator,  writes  Mrs.  Alice  Bar- 
bour  Stephens,  is  the  earnest  training  of  an  artist  in  drawing,  painting, 
and  the  easy  use  of  all  materials.  An  art  school  gives  a  large  variety 
of  influences  and  would  seem  most  desirable.  Many  of  the  schools  now  pro- 
vide a  class  for  special  training  in  illustrating.  The  desirable  qualifica- 
tions for  an  illustrator  are  personality,  observation,  skill,  as  much  artistic 
.ability  as  she  may  fortunately  be  born  with,  and  a  broad  sympathy  with 
the  human  drama.  There  is  no  question  of  opportunity  if  a  woman  has 
ability  and  equipment  in  draftsmanship;  the  publishers  are  ready 
for  all  such.  But  this  does  not  come  with  short  training.  The  question 
of  money  return  it  is  impossible  to  be  exact  on.  Greatness  and  clever- 
ness are  not  the  same  thing,  and  cleverness  is  more  likely  to  pay  best  at 
first.  Some  well-known  women  illustrators  may,  after  many  years,  earn 
$3,000;  some,  $5,000  for  several  years;  a  few,  more  than  this  for  a 
few  special  years.  They  must  be  capable  of  long-sustained  output,  a 
habit  of  great  industry,  and  steady  health.  In  some  feverish  centres, 
like  New  York,  no  doubt  the  price  and  brilliancy  go  much  beyond  this. 
I  do  not  know  more  specifically,  however.  A  large  number  of  the  less 
talented  of  my  knowledge  find  many  little  avenues  for  their  modest 
work:  industry  is  pretty  sure  of  some  reward.  Skill,  with  character, 
and  keeping  within  touch  of  inspiring  influences,  is  the  key-note  of 
success. 

264 


ART  265 

2.  As  regards  fashion  drawing,  there  seems  to  be  one  opinion 
on  the  part  of  fashion  magazine  editors,  dealers  in  women's  wear, 
and  fashion  drawers.  One  editor  writes: — 

I  can  most  emphatically  say  that  there  is  a  wide  field  for  women  in 
fashion  drawing.  In  our  work  we  use  about  10  fashion  artists,  all  of 
whom  are  women.  As  a  rule,  men  are  not  so  satisfactory  in  this  line  of 
work,  because  they  do  not  seem  to  fully  appreciate  the  lines  of  women's 
clothes. 

Another  adds: — 

Our  fashion  drawings  are  made  by  3  women  and  1  man.  The 
fashion  "copy"  is  written  entirely  by  women.  The  work  is  exceedingly 
remunerative,  but  the  prices  of  the  drawings  vary  according  to  the  ex- 
perience, reputation,  and  ability  of  the  artist.  The  newspapers  pay  $2 
to  $3  each  for  one  column  fashion  drawings, — sometimes  a  little  more, 
sometimes  a  little  less.  Our  lowest  rate  is  $5  a  column,  our  highest 
rate  $15  a  column.  There  are  very  few  men  doing  good  fashion  work, 
but  any  number  of  women  who  are  successful  in  this  field.  The  fashion 
illustrations  in  most  of  the  large  newspapers  are  made  by  women  who 
have  had  their  training  in  this  country. 

And  a  third  says: — 

On  our  staff  we  have  both  men  and  women,  but  more  women.  We 
think  fashion  drawing  an  especially  good  opportunity  for  women. 

Two  out  of  three  hat  manufacturers  to  whom  inquiries  were 
sent  replied  that  men  had  drawn  the  hats  which  prompted  the  in- 
quiry; but  both  cordially  recommended  this  work  for  women. 
One  had  previously  employed  women  for  his  advertising,  and  the 
other  thought  it  "one  of  the  best  paying  lines  that  a  lady  could  de- 
vote her  time  and  attention  to."  The  third  kindly  gave  the  name 
of  the  woman  artist  who  does  his  drawing,  and  added,  "I  think 
the  work  is  very  profitable  for  women,  as  we  pay  from  $15  up  to 
$30  for  our  drawings." 

Returns  from  fashion  drawers  themselves  confirm  the  opinions 
already  given,  although  the  estimate  as  to  compensation  varies. 
One  woman  states: — 


266  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

An  average  fashion  artist  on  a  magazine  ought  to  earn  not  less  than  $10 
weekly.  It  is  possible  to  earn  $50  or  more  per  week.  I  should  say  $20 
is  a  fair  average  for  a  good  artist. 

Another  thinks  that  a  good  fashion  artist  should  make  $50  a 
week  or  more.  And  the  third  states: — 

A  large  house  pays  from  $6  to  $50  a  week,  and  the  one  or  two  head 
artists  get  a  good  deal  more.  One  woman's  magazine,  I  understand, 
pays  from  $25  to  $40  a  figure,  and  more  if  they  are  very  anxious  for 
any  particular  artist's  work. 

One  of  the  magazine  editors  quoted  above  puts  the  possibili- 
ties clearly: — 

If  women  have  talent  in  design  besides  some  artistic  ability,  they  can 
make  from  $25  to  $100  or  more  a  week  by  making  fashion  drawings,  as 
they  are  in  demand  not  only  for  the  fashion  magazines,  but  for  illustrat- 
ing advertisements  for  newspapers  and  magazines. 

Apparently,  one  would  be  conservative  in  making  $20  to  $75 
a  week  the  range  for  fashion  drawing  which  can  meet  the  needs  of 
both  magazine  and  advertisement. 

The  nature  of  this  work  and  the  training  necessary  can  best  be 
given  in  the  words  of  the  artists  themselves: — 

To  become  a  good  fashion  illustrator  of  any  kind,  it  is  desirable  to  have 
a  good  foundation  in  drawing  from  the  cast  and  from  life.  Without 
such  knowledge,  success  is  impossible.  A  girl  desirous  of  entering  the 
ranks  should  have  two  or  three  years  at  a  good  art  school,  and,  if  pos- 
sible, an  additional  course  in  practical  designing. 

On  completing  such  training,  one  must  acquire  practical  knowledge 
by  doing  actual  work  for  publication.  It  is  possible  to  obtain  a  position 
with  a  firm  of  commercial  illustrators,  and  to  obtain  a  salary  of  from  $6 
to  $25  a  week,  according  to  the  proficiency  of  the  artist.  In  an  establish- 
ment of  this  kind  it  is  possible  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  handling  of 
various  mediums, — pen  and  ink  wash,  etc., — also  some  idea  of  the  method 
of  reproduction.  To  illustrate  successfully  for  a  good  magazine  requires 
a  knowledge  of  the  method  of  reproduction,  of  fashion,  of  fabrics,  laces, 
millinery,  and  coiffures :  the  main  consideration  is  the  value  of  the  drawing 
as  a  fashion.  To  become  really  proficient  requires  five  or  six  years  of 


ART  267 

practical  experience,  which  is  obtained  only  after  meeting  the  demands 
and  requirements  presented  in  the  commercial  world. 

The  artist  usually  develops  along  lines  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  special 
magazine  which  supplies  the  market  for  her  work.  Different  magazines 
cater  to  different  strata  of  society.  The  greater  the  mental  aptitude  of 
the  artist  to  slip  into  the  mood  of  the  fashions  and  of  the  particular 
fashion  editor  with  whom  she  is  working,  the  greater  the  possibility 
for  ultimate  success.  In  the  highest  grade  of  fashion  drawing  the  artist 
uses  models  for  the  figures,  the  result  being  as  much  like  a  good  illustra- 
tion as  is  possible  where  a  gown  has  to  be  so  accurately  represented. 
Good  advertising  comes  under  this  head.  Below  this  grade  are  news- 
paper cuts,  catalogues,  pictures  to  illustrate  a  pattern,  and  dressmakers ' 
sketches.  Only  those  well  trained  can  do  the  highest  type  of  work:  the 
rest  must  keep  to  the  general  run  of  fashion  drawing. 

3.  Good  illustrating  for  advertisements  is  evidently  both  more 
lucrative  and  more  exacting  than  fashion  drawing. 

Advertising  work  is  more  remunerative,  writes  an  artist,  but  requires 
a  wider  knowledge,  a  fuller  experience.  It  is  not  infrequently  a  de- 
velopment of  another  kind  of  work.  Successful  advertising  artists  earn 
large  salaries, — from  $50  to  $200  per  week  according  to  their  proficiency. 

As  this  is  the  word  of  the  artist  who  gave  the  most  conservative 
estimate  for  fashion  drawing,  one  is  tempted  to  give  weight  to 
her  figures,  remembering,  however,  that  New  York  prices  have,  as 
she  herself  says,  a  "feverish  tendency."  Another  artist  writes 
more  generally: — 

Advertising  work  is  also  in  demand,  and  gains  a  high  price.  This  work 
depends  largely  upon  originality  of  idea  and  style  of  execution,  and  is 
more  along  the  line  of  regular  illustrating.  It  is  impossible  to  say  how 
much  time  would  be  required  to  gain  a  high  place  and  salary,  as  so  much 
depends  upon  personal  ability. 

The  requirements  for  the  work  can  best  be  summed  up,  per- 
haps, in  the  words  of  an  artist  who  draws  the  illustrations  for 
one  of  the  most  widely  and  cleverly  advertised  foods : — 

To  be  successful  in  advertising  work,  I  have  found  that  the  work  must 
be  "spontaneous,"  and  I  am  afraid  women  who  do  not  possess  this 


268  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

quality  have  little  "chance."  A  woman  must  have  the  sense  of  beauty, 
exaggeration,  humor,  and  I  don't  know  what;  for  sometimes  the  little 
sketch  done  in  ten  minutes  takes  a  large  order,  when  a  carefully  worked 
out  sketch  that  has  taken  days  goes  by  the  wall.  Hard  work,  after  all, 
is  the  only  road  to  success  and  "money."  Keep  on,  no  matter  how  dis- 
couraged, and  if  you  have  talent  you  must  succeed  some  time  or  other. 
The  money-making  talent  is  not  considered  high  art  by  true  artists,  and 
if  people  have  ambitions  for  the  highest  in  painting,  they  will  be  penniless 
unless  born  a  Sargent  or  a  Whistler.  The  secret  of  commercial  success  is 
first  of  all  Talent  with  a  capital  T,  and  second,  "Hustle." 

That  able  women  are  welcome  in  this  field  of  work  is  evidenced 
by  the  replies  of  all  firms  from  whom  opinions  and  addresses  of 
artists  were  obtained.  A  firm  which  advertises  largely  an  in- 
dispensable household  article  writes: — 

The  drawings  used  in  connection  with are  made  by  women  as  well 

as  by  men.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  believe  we  get  more  satisfactory 
work  from  women  than  from  men.  Women  are  more  familiar  with  house- 
hold matters  than  men,  and  for  that  reason  their  work  is  usually  freer 
from  error  than  men's. 

Another  manufacturer  writes: — 

Probably  there  are  few  occupations  more  remunerative  than  that  of 
such  an  artist.  It  is  not  a  field,  of  course,  that  women  generally  can 
enter  profitably,  but  the  woman  who  can  draw  well  will  certainly  find 
occupation  for  her  pen  and  pencil.  There  are  scores  of  advertisers  look- 
ing for  such  women  to-day.* — ED. 


COMMERCIAL  DESIGNING 

Compiled  from  information  furnished  by  Miss  Helen  Loomis,  Secre- 
tary of  the  New  York  School  of  Applied  Design  for  Women. 

Commercial  designing  for  women  is  highly  specialized  and  really 
includes  a  variety  of  occupations.  It  covers  broadly  the  follow- 
ing groups: — 

1.  Designs    reproduced    by    some    lithographic    process,    wall 

*  See  foot-note,  page  172. 


ART  269 

papers,  printed  silks  and  cottons,  labels,  trade-marks,  and  trade 
catalogues  of  all  kinds. 

2.  Designs  for  woven  fabrics,  brocades,  rugs,  laces,  and  em- 
broideries. 

3.  Designs  to  be  executed  in  wood,  metals,  and  other  materials. 
This  group  includes  designs  for  such  things  as  furniture,  jewelry, 
lighting  apparatus,   ecclesiastical  fixtures,   rubber  tiling,   tesse- 
lated  pavements,  etc. 

4.  Book  cover,  book  plate,  poster,  and  fashion  designing. 

A  competent  designer  should  give  from  three  to  four  years 
for  training,  although  there  is  opportunity  for  progress  at  what- 
ever rate  the  individual  is  capable  of.  Her  training  should  in- 
clude the  ability  to  draw  well  and  accurately,  to  letter,  to  enlarge 
and  to  make  a  good  flat  wash,  and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
two  main  classes  of  design, — conventional  floral  designs  and  de- 
signs based  on  historic  periods.  It  is  essential  that  she  have 
good  eyesight  and  a  true  eye.  General  training  in  art  is  a 
valuable  prerequisite,  and  a  college  education  is  a  distinct  ad- 
vantage, especially  with  regard  to  historic  ornament.  No 
woman  over  thirty-five  should  begin  the  training.  Courses  in 
design  are  offered  at  Pratt  Institute,  Brooklyn,  Teachers  Col- 
lege, Columbia  University,  and  the  New  York  School  for  Ap- 
plied Design  for  Women,  which  gives  training  under  trade  con- 
ditions. 

A  well-trained  designer  begins  at  a  salary  of  from  $8  to  $12 
per  week  and  works  up  to  a  maximum  of  $50  per  week,  although 
exceptional  cases  may  receive  more.  She  should  receive  $25  per 
week  at  the  end  of  three  years.  There  is  a  good  demand  for 
competent  designers.  A  school  in  New  York  recently  placed 
15  of  its  students  in  a  month. 


270  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 


MUSEUM  WORK  FOR  WOMEN 

ELIZABETH   M.   GARDINER 

ASSISTANT  TO  THB  DIRECTOR,  WORCESTER  ART  MUSEUM 

A  fresh  field  for  trained  workers  has  arisen  within  the  last 
decade.  The  plastic  arts  are  no  longer  the  interest  of  a  wealthy 
or  exceptionally  cultured  few;  there  is  a  demand  springing  up 
from  thousands  of  little  centres  scattered  all  over  the  United  States. 
In  great  cities  and  provincial  towns  alike,  women's  clubs,  travel 
classes,  informal  groups  of  neighbors,  girls  at  boarding-school, 
all  are  eager  to  get  together  and  learn  about  art.  From  every 
side  comes  the  demand  for  leaders. 

At  the  same  time,  training  for  such  leaders  is  being  provided. 
A  few  of  the  larger  colleges  and  universities  provide  systematic 
instruction  in  the  history  of  art,  equal  in  severity  of  standard 
and  in  academic  prestige  to  that  of  any  other  recognized  depart- 
ment. Three  at  least  offer  serious  graduate  work  in  the  subject, 
leading  to  the  degree  of  A.M.  or  Ph.D.  For  more  advanced 
work  there  is  opportunity  abroad.  The  American  Schools  for 
Classical  Study  at  Athens  and  at  Rome  are  beginning  to  offer 
guidance  for  research  in  art  history  of  the  Classical  and  Renais- 
sance periods. 

To  students  who  have  taken  all  or  a  part  of  this  special  training 
and  who  wish  to  enter  the  field  as  practical  workers,  two  courses 
are  open.  They  may  become  academic  instructors,  and  answer 
the  call  from  conservative  colleges  which  give  only  elementary 
art  courses,  from  secondary  schools  (particularly  finishing  schools) , 
or  from  art  schools  which  add  to  their  practical  work  some  edu- 
cation on  the  historical  side;  or  they  may  go  to  the  museums, — 
the  great,  established  central  collections  in  New  York,  Boston, 
Philadelphia,  and  Chicago;  the  younger  but  rapidly  growing 
secondary  centres,  as,  for  instance,  St.  Louis,  Detroit,  Toledo, 
Buffalo,  Worcester;  and  the  host  of  modest  beginners  that  are 
springing  up  in  the  smaller  cities  and  towns. 

The  positions  open  to  women  in  museums  may  be  classed  some- 
what as  follows: — 


ART  271 

Clerical  Workers.  One  or  more  stenographers  for  correspond- 
ence, copying,  and  assistance  in  book-keeping  are  usually  em- 
ployed. No  especial  art  training  is  necessary,  though  a  knowl- 
edge of  modern  languages  is  useful.  Salaries  average  lower  than 
in  business  houses,  but  hours  and  associations  are  pleasanter. 

Librarians.  The  museum  library  requires  one  or  more  special 
workers.  The  requisites  for  librarian,  besides  familiarity  with 
ordinary  library  processes,  are:  a  reading  knowledge  of  French 
and  German;  Italian  and  Spanish  enough  to  make  out  the 
general  character  of  a  work;  enough  acquaintance  with  the  gen- 
eral history  of  art  to  catalogue  intelligently;  enough  of  scholarly 
method  to  estimate  the  value  of  a  book  to  the  student  or  to  the 
general  public.  An  intelligent  woman  who  had  specialized  in  art 
as  an  undergraduate  and  taken  a  course  at  a  library  school  would 
be  prepared  for  such  a  position. 

A  parallel  department  to  the  library  is  the  photograph  collec- 
tion, which  normally  requires  the  time  of  at  least  one  person. 
The  work  will  be  the  selecting,  classifying,  and  cataloguing  of 
photographs  illustrating  the  general  history  of  art.  Qualifica- 
tions for  the  post  are  similar  to  those  for  the  library  proper,  save 
that  it  needs  less  complete  library  training  and  a  more  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  history  of  art.  For  example,  the  keeper  of 
photographs  must  know  what  authorities  to  trust  in  case  of  conflict- 
ing attributions  of  a  given  painting  or  how  to  find  out  the  style  and 
period  of  stray  architectural  fragments.  She  should,  if  possible, 
have  done  graduate  work  on  the  subject  or  have  travelled. 

For  library  positions  the  salary  varies.  It  should  normally 
start  at  $1 ,000  for  properly  trained  persons.  The  hours  are  usually 
shorter  than  in  general  libraries. 

Docent.  The  larger  museums  are  now  offering  to  individuals 
trained  guidance  through  the  collections,  and  to  schools  or  clubs 
advice  in  using  the  resources  of  the  museum  as  adjuncts  to  their 
own  lines  of  study.  This  educational  work  is  in  charge  of  a 
special  member  of  the  staff,  the  Docent.  She  should  have,  in 
addition  to  such  academic  background  as  is  required  for  the 
keeper  of  photographs,  an  acquaintance  with  the  masterpieces  in 
the  foreign  galleries  and  with  the  physical  setting  in  which  Euro- 
pean art  grew  up.  As  her  task  is  to  develop  appreciation  in  others, 


272  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

she  will  need  a  temperament  that  responds  sensitively  to  beauty 
wherever  found,  whether  in  paintings,  pottery,  or  textiles,  and  the 
tact  to  adapt  herself  now  to  the  bewildered  novice  who  wants 
in  an  hour  "to  see  the  best  things  in  the  museum,"  now  to  the 
serious  student.  The  position  makes  a  greater  nervous  drain 
than  either  of  the  foregoing,  but  affords  more  human  interest  and 
a  rich  opportunity  for  personal  growth.  It  is  too  recently  estab- 
lished to  estimate  the  normal  salary,  but  cannot  wisely  be  under- 
taken on  an  income  which  prohibits  occasional  travel  abroad. 

The  foregoing  positions  are  all  freely  open  to  women  and  adapted 
to  their  temperament.  A  fourth  opening  sometimes  offers  itself, 
though  in  many  cases  at  the  present  time  it  is  available  only  for 
men;  viz., — 

Curator  or  Assistant  in  a  given  department.  The  curator's 
task  is  the  classifying  and  arranging  of  a  special  section  of  the 
material  exhibited.  In  addition  to  the  general  background  re- 
quired by  the  docent,  the  curator  should  have  expert  knowledge 
of  some  one  period  or  class  of  objects.  For  this,  advanced  study 
either  in  one  of  the  graduate  schools  abroad  or  under  some  rec- 
ognized master  is  imperative.  She  should  know  at  least  the  prin- 
ciples by  which  genuine  and  spurious  work  are  distinguished,  and 
show  some  instinct  for  quality,  though  absolute  trustworthiness 
comes  only  with  long  experience.  The  writer  cannot  estimate 
the  range  of  salaries  offered  to  women  for  such  work. 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that,  aside  from  clerical  positions,  there 
are  two  sorts  of  openings  for  women  in  a  museum, — one  which 
requires  general  academic  training  in  art  and  a  knowledge  of 
library  methods;  the  other,  advanced  study  and  foreign  travel. 
The  library  work  is  perhaps  most  easily  accessible  to  women;  the 
docentship  makes  greater  demands  on  artistic  training  and  per- 
sonality; the  curatorship  is  probably  most  difficult  of  attainment, 
and  requires  qualities  rarer  in  a  woman,  though  not  of  a  higher 
order  than  those  needed  for  docentship.  A  directorship  in  an 
important  museum  would,  at  present,  hardly  be  accessible  even 
to  a  woman  who  possessed  the  necessary  qualifications.  In  all 
the  positions  the  work  involves  contact  with  absorbingly  in- 
teresting material,  and  the  supply  of  trained  workers  is  well  below 
the  demand. 


IX 
SPECIAL  FORMS  OF  TEACHING 


VOCATIONAL  TEACHING  FOR  WOMEN 

FLORENCE  M.  MARSHALL 

DIRECTOR,  GIRLS'  TRADE  EDUCATION  LEAGUE  AND  INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  DEPARTMENT, 
WOMEN'S  EDUCATIONAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  UNION 

With  the  rapid  spread  of  industrial  and  commercial  education 
resulting  in  the  establishment  of  schools  and  classes  aiming  to 
prepare  girls  for  wage-earning  occupations,  comes  a  pressing 
demand  for  teachers  rightly  trained  to  undertake  vocational 
teaching.*  Courses  and  methods  in  vogue  in  existing  institu- 
tions have  not  produced  the  right  sort  of  teachers  for  industrial 
schools,  since  industry  demands  something  more,  if  not  some- 
thing different,  than  has  thus  far  been  achieved  by  pedagogical 
training. 

The  business  employer,  finding  school-girls  unable  to  adapt 
themselves  immediately  to  his  ways,  is  apt  to  infer  that  the 
school  training  is  all  wrong,  and  that  schools  cannot  train  for 
practical  work.  The  truth  probably  is,  however,  that  school 
training  is  right  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  that  it  has  concerned  itself 
only  with  the  formation  of  certain  habits  per  se,  and  has  paid  too 
little  attention  to  adjusting  those  habits  to  the  practical  demands 
of  life.  For  example,  school  training  in  the  habit  of  neatness 
requires  that  all  waste  material  must  be  kept  on  the  desk  or  de- 
posited in  waste-baskets,  and  the  school  stops  there  because 
that  is  the  correct  idea  of  neatness  for  school-room  and  for  home, 
while  in  a  dressmaking  shop  the  floor  is  considered  the  proper 

*  The  term  is  here  used  as  applying  to  teaching  for  grades  of  work  below  the 
professions, — the  rank  and  file  of  occupations  in  the  commercial  and  industrial 
field. 

273 


274  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

place  for  waste,  and  a  girl  who  spends  her  time  in  picking  up  her 
pieces  and  carrying  them  to  a  waste-basket  is  quite  worthless  to 
her  employer.  The  habit  of  neatness  acquired  in  school  through 
any  method  whatever  is  invaluable  to  her,  if  she  has  learned  also 
the  power  of  adaptation.  Again,  school  methods  are  too  often 
directed  toward  the  acquisition  of  some  one  habit  without  due 
recognition  of  other  habits  equally  important.  A  girl  may  have 
been  taught  to  work  accurately  without  working  quickly,  and 
to  an  employer  in  certain  lines  of  work  speed  may  be  the  one  great 
essential,  while  too  great  accuracy  may  even  be  a  fault.  It  is 
generally  conceded,  therefore,  that  more  attention  must  be  paid 
to  training  women  for  this  new  field  of  vocational  teaching,  if 
schools  are  to  prepare  girls  for  practical  workshops  or  other  busi- 
ness positions. 

Present  opportunities  for  vocational  teaching  may  be  classified 
roughly  as  follows: — 

1.  Public  schools  and  classes.     These  range  all  the  way  from 
attempts  to  make  existing  manual  training  courses  serve  as  general 
industrial  training  to  specialized  schools  of  trade,  such  as  those 
established  in   Milwaukee,   in   Columbus,   Ga.,   and   in  Boston. 
They  include  also  work  in  evening  industrial  schools,  in  which 
there  is  a  crying  need  for  trained  teachers  who  are  able  to  define 
more  clearly  the  aims  of  evening  courses  and  to  set  higher  stand- 
ards of  workmanship. 

2.  Private  classes  conducted  in  whole  or  in  part  by  business 
concerns  in  the  interest  of  their  own  employees.     Examples  of 
such  classes  are  found  in  the  School  of  Salesmanship  carried  on  at 
the  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union  in  co-operation 
with  six  of  the  large  Boston  department  stores,  and  also  in  the 
Boston  School  for  Telephone  Operators,  carried  on  by  the  Tele- 
phone  Company.     The   movement   for   training   saleswomen   is 
spreading  very  rapidly  to  other  cities;  but  the  one  great  obstruc- 
tion to  its  growth  is  the  lack  of  women  rightly  trained  to  carry 
it  on. 

3.  Private  classes  conducted  by  settlements,  churches,  and  other 
philanthropic  organizations.     More  and  more  the  aims  of  such 
classes  are  becoming  vocational,  and  teachers  are  demanded  who 
understand  how  to  prepare  girls  for  definite  occupations  or  who 


SPECIAL  FORMS  OF  TEACHING  275 

can  give  a  vocational  trend  to  their  work  by  making  it  preparatory 
for  schools  which  are  definitely  designed  to  fit  for  trades. 

The  great  demand  for  vocational  teachers  at  present  comes  in 
both  industrial  and  commercial  lines, — in  all  branches  of  so-called 
needle  trades, — dressmaking,  millinery,  power  machine  operating, 
and  every  variety  of  industry  dealing  with  the  manufacture  of 
clothing, — in  industrial  designing,  in  the  preparation  and  sale 
of  foods  and  the  work  incident  thereto,  and  in  mercantile  pur- 
suits, such  as  salesmanship  and  secretarial  work. 

Institutions  with  well-established  courses  in  design  and  the 
domestic  arts  and  sciences,  especially  Teachers  College,  Simmons 
College,  and  Pratt  Institute,  are  endeavoring  to  meet  this  demand 
for  teachers  who  understand  the  requirements  of  business,  by 
opening  certain  theoretical  courses  to  business  women,  and  by 
supplying  more  laboratory  practice  for  their  regular  college  stu- 
dents. The  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union  in 
Boston  in  co-operation  with  Simmons  College  is  endeavoring  to 
aid  in  the  solution  of  the  difficulty  by  establishing  normal 
classes  in  its  School  of  Salesmanship,  by  creating  fellowships  in 
its  Department  of  Research  for  college-trained  women  who  desire 
an  opportunity  for  the  study  of  industrial  questions  relating  to 
women,  and  by  opening  its  Trade  School  Shops*  as  practice 
laboratories  for  college  and  normal  school  women  preparing  for 
industrial  teaching. 

An  endeavor  was  made  to  discover  the  actual  demand  for 
teachers  and  the  types  of  positions  offered  from  fourteen  promi- 
nent institutions  to  which  at  present  one  must  turn  for  industrial 
teachers.  While  this  was  unsatisfactory  in  many  ways,  it  brought 
out  clearly  the  fact  that  the  supply  of  educated  women  who  have 
also  a  practical  business  training  necessary  for  entering  upon 
various  lines  of  vocational  teaching  and  other  industrial  or  com- 

*  The  Trade  School  Shops  are  regular  business  shops,  employing  young  girls 
who  have  had  a  year  of  training  at  the  Boston  Trade  School.  They  were  estab- 
lished for  the  purpose  of  enabling  Trade  School  girls  to  prolong  their  training 
for  a  second  year,  and  having  proved  successful,  are  now  endeavoring  to  offer 
laboratory  practice  to  women  who  are  preparing  to  teach.  At  present  there  are 
two  shops  (one  for  millinery  and  one  for  hand-made  children's  garments),  but 
two  others  are  soon  to  be  added, — one  for  dressmaking  and  one  for  machine  oper- 
ating. 


276  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

mercial  pursuits  is  pitifully  meagre,  and  that  the  institutions  are 
unable  to  keep  up  with  the  rapidly  increasing  demand,  although 
the  salaries  range  from  $800  to  $2,000  a  year  and  over.  Since  the 
development  of  vocational  education  will  undoubtedly  mean  that 
teachers  will  be  sought  in  increasingly  large  numbers,  it  is  appar- 
ent that  a  greater  organized  effort  should  be  made  to  train  teachers 
for  this  new  field.  At  present  those  whose  previous  experience, 
inclination,  and  ability  lead  them  in  this  direction,  and  who  can 
supplement  their  college  or  normal  school  training  with  a  year 
or  two  in  the  particular  business  which  they  are  preparing  to 
teach,  will  find  their  value  greatly  enhanced.  It  is  believed, 
however,  that  the  best  teachers  of  the  future  will  be  prepared  by 
a  combination  of  shop  work  and  general  education,  beginning 
very  early  in  a  girl's  life,  as  business  habits  and  methods  are  not 
easily  acquired  by  older  persons.  Girls  who  are  looking  forward 
to  vocational  teaching  would  do  well  to  seek  every  opportunity  for 
practical  work  while  pursuing  their  high-school  and  college  courses. 
While  at  present  one  must  rely  upon  existing  commercial 
shops  for  securing  laboratory  practice,  the  preparation  of  voca- 
tional teachers  may  soon  require  the  establishment  of  special 
shops  for  this  purpose,  as  there  cannot  fail  to  be  much  misdi- 
rected effort  resulting  in  loss  of  efficiency,  where  teachers  are 
dependent  upon  receiving  such  training  as  they  can  pick  up  in 
shops  conducted  wholly  for  financial  profit.  Just  as  the  model 
school  was  found  to  be  a  necessity  in  connection  with  the  normal 
school,  that  the  training  of  teachers  might  not  be  a  mere  matter 
of  chance,  but  be  more  carefully  directed  towards  a  conscious 
goal,  so  in  connection  with  institutions  to  which  the  country 
must  look  for  vocational  teachers,  it  would  seem  that  shops  for 
laboratory  practice  must,  in  some  way,  be  connected  with  the 
institutions,  so  that  the  teacher's  practical  business  experience 
may  be  a  definite  part  of  her  training,  and  be  made  to  serve  the 
best  possible  educational  ends. 


SPECIAL  FORMS  OF  TEACHING  277 


TRAINING  IN  SALESMANSHIP 

LUCINDA  W.  PRINCE 

DIRECTOR  OF  THE  SCHOOL  OF  SALESMANSHIP,  WOMEN'S  EDUCATIONAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL 

UNION 

The  Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union  of  Boston, 
because  of  its  special  interest  in  industrial  training,  five  years 
ago  started  a  class  which  has  since  developed  into  the  Union 
School  of  Salesmanship.  The  ideal  of  this  distinctly  pioneer 
work  is  not  only  that  the  pupils  shall  gain  training  and  informa- 
tion, but  that  they  shall  develop  greater  power  to  do  their  work 
in  the  world.  Women  looking  upon  salesmanship  as  a  vocation, 
with  ambition  to  advance,  will  command  higher  wages;  con- 
versely, stores  offering  higher  wages  will  demand  trained  workers. 
With  the  realization  of  how  to  use  her  resources  the  saleswoman 
finds  store  work  not  a  drudgery,  but  a  joy,  and  with  the  increased 
efficiency  and  higher  wages  which  almost  invariably  result  from  the 
training,  the  double  benefit  is  secured  of  improved  service  to  the 
public  and  a  higher  standard  of  life  and  living  for  the  workers. 
It  will  thus  be  seen  that  there  is  a  vital  connection  between  the 
business  and  the  sociological  phases  of  the  work. 

In  general,  the  aim  of  the  course  in  salesmanship  is  to  develop 
those  qualities  which  will  enable  the  pupils  to  succeed  as  sales- 
women. What  these  qualities  are  was  determined  by  personal 
investigation  of  the  needs  of  the  average  untrained  salesgirls  in 
stores  and  by  conference  with  superintendents  as  to  the  qualifica- 
tions essential  to  success.  As  a  result,  the  first  general  aim  re- 
solved itself  into  this  fourfold,  more  definite  aim:  (1)  to  teach 
right  thinking  towards  the  work  as  a  vocation  and  to  arouse  a 
feeling  of  responsibility;  (2)  to  develop  a  pleasing  personality; 
(3)  to  inculcate  a  regard  for  system  and  to  cultivate  a  habit  of 
attention  to  details;  (4)  to  instruct  in  those  subjects  which  in- 
crease knowledge  of  the  goods  to  be  sold.  The  subjects  taught 
as  the  natural  outcome  of  this  purpose  are  selected  on  the  fol- 
lowing basis: — 

1.  To  develop  a  wholesome,   attractive  personality:    hygiene 


278  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

(especially  personal  hygiene).  This  includes  study  of  daily 
menus  for  saleswomen,  ventilation,  bathing,  sleep,  exercise,  rec- 
reation. 

2.  To   give    familiarity   with    the   general    system   of    stores: 
sales-slip  practice,  store  directory,  business  arithmetic,  business 
forms  and  cash  account,  lectures. 

3.  To  increase  knowledge  of  stock:  color,  design,  textiles. 

4.  To  teach  selling  as  a  science:    discussion  of   store    experi- 
ences, talks  on  salesmanship, — such  as  "Attitude  to  Firm,  Cus- 
tomer, and  Fellow-employee,"  "Store  System,"  "Care  of  Stock," 
"Approach  to  Customer,"  "Knowledge  of  Stock,"  "Closing  the 
Sale,"  "Courtesies  to  Customers," — demonstration  of  selling  in 
the  class,  and  salesmanship  lectures. 

The  note-book  work  required  gives  material  for  English,  in- 
cluding spelling,  punctuation,  and  penmanship.  Demonstration 
of  selling  in  the  class  is  conducted  like  the  teaching  lessons  in 
normal  schools.  Real  customers,  chosen  because  they  represent 
different  types,  buy  real  articles.  The  sale  is  watched  by  the 
whole  class,  notes  being  taken  of  strong  and  weak  points.  When 
the  sale  is  finished,  the  one  who  has  made  the  sale  is  allowed  to 
criticise  her  own  work,  then  the  class  criticises,  the  customer  tells 
why  she  did  or  did  not  buy  the  article,  and  the  whole  is  summed 
up  by  the  director.  These  demonstrations,  the  discussions  of 
store  experience,  observations  in  other  stores,  and  actual  selling 
with  thought,  awaken  the  class  to  the  difference  between  handing 
goods  over  the  counter  and  really  serving  the  customer.  What 
Professor  Palmer  calls  an  "aptitude  for  vicariousness "  is  as 
essential  for  the  successful  saleswoman  as  for  the  successful 
teacher. 

As  far  as  possible,  the  class  work  is  correlated :  the  drawing  is  a 
store  plan  or  a  design  for  a  costume;  spelling  is  studied  in  names 
and  addresses  and  in  store  English  (and  French) ;  when  the  girl  s 
are  sent  to  the  stores  for  samples,  exercises  in  salesmanship,  color, 
design,  and  textiles  are  involved.  When  the  subject  of  the  textile 
study  is  wool,  one  of  the  store  lectures  at  that  time  is  on  wool  or 
woollen  goods.  Practical  talks  by  representatives  of  the  firms 
interested,  experienced  salespeople,  buyers,  and  superintendents, 
are  given  twice  a  week  to  the  class  on  such  subjects  as  "The 


SPECIAL  FORMS  OF  TEACHING  279 

Department  Store's  System  and  the  Saleswoman's  Place  in  It," 
"How  to  show  Goods,"  "Trifles,"  "Service  to  Customer."  The 
class  also  has  lectures  from  specialists  on  Hygiene,  Vocational 
Training,  Food,  Tuberculosis,  Finance,  etc.  The  Art  Museum 
is  visited,  lectures  being  given  there  on  textiles,  designs,  and 
costumes.  Three  of  the  most  helpful  talks  are  given  by  customers. 

In  looking  to  the  future  of  the  school,  two  things,  each  depending 
on  the  other,  are  much  to  be  desired, — more  efficient  candidates 
for  training,  and  higher  wages.  It  is  encouraging  that  some  of 
the  superintendents  already  admit  that  three  well-trained  sales- 
women can  manage  a  counter  better  than  six  indifferent  ones,  and 
that  the  well-trained  three  with  good  salaries  cost  the  store  no 
more  than  the  inefficient  six. 

Essential  to  the  success  of  the  school  is  the  co-operation  of  the 
firms  of  five  Boston  department  stores,  William  Filene's  Sons 
Company,  Jordan  Marsh  Company,  Gilchrist  Company,  James  A. 
Houston  Company,  and  R.  H.  White  Company.  Candidates  for 
the  salesmanship  classes  are  taken  from  positions  in  these  stores 
and  must  be  approved  by  the  store  superintendent  and  the  di- 
rector of  the  school.  The  pupils  return  to  their  work  in  the 
stores  every  afternoon,  classes  being  held  in  the  morning  only. 
The  girls  receive  full  wages  while  taking  the  training.  The  course 
is  three  months  in  length.  An  advisory  committee,  composed 
of  the  superintendents  of  the  five  co-operating  stores,  meets  once 
a  month  for  discussion  and  conference  with  the  president  of  the 
Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union  and  the  director  of 
the  School  of  Salesmanship. 

By  an  arrangement  between  the  Union  School  of  Salesmanship 
and  Simmons  College,  women  who  wish  to  prepare  themselves 
to  teach  salesmanship  may  now  obtain  the  necessary  training. 
Instruction  is  given  at  the  Union  in  the  principles  and  practice 
of  teaching,  in  textiles  and  other  subjects  included  in  the  course, 
while  actual  selling  in  one  or  more  of  the  stores  connected  with  the 
school  gives  the  necessary  practical  knowledge  of  the  store  end 
of  salesmanship.  Simmons  College  offers  courses  in  Economics. 
The  courses  are  open  to  a  limited  number,  to  be  chosen  from  the 
following  classes  of  students:  (1)  women  who  have  acquired  a 
practical  knowledge  of  salesmanship  and  desire  to  prepare  them- 


280  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

selves  to  teach  it;  (2)  women  who  have  had  successful  experience 
as  teachers  and  who  require  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  store 
end  in  order  to  teach  salesmanship  in  particular;  (3)  women  of 
maturity,  with  aptitude  and  general  experience,  who  desire  to 
acquire  both  a  practical  knowledge  of  salesmanship  and  the 
ability  to  give  instruction  in  it.  Experience  has  seemed  to  prove 
that  the  most  effective  teachers  of  salesmanship  are  those  with 
educational  background,  who  have  done  successful  teaching, 
rather  than  those  who  have  had  store  experience  merely.  The 
period  of  training  for  teachers  is  from  six  to  ten  months  according 
to  experience  and  preparation.  The  salesmanship  classes  begin 
in  January,  April,  and  October.  The  tuition  fee  is  at  the  rate  of 
$100  a  year. 

The  openings  for  teachers  of  salesmanship  seem  at  this  moment 
very  promising.  There  is  wide-spread  interest  in  the  plan,  and 
during  the  past  year  the  director  of  the  Union  School  of  Sales- 
manship has  been  called  upon  to  establish  two  other  schools,  one 
in  Providence,  R.I.,  and  one  in  San  Francisco,  Cal.  A  number 
of  large  cities  are  asking  for  directions  in  starting  similar  training 
in  connection  with  their  department  stores. 

The  work  may  be  established  in  one  of  two  ways,  either  as  the 
undertaking  of  an  individual  firm  for  its  employees,  as  in  the  San 
Francisco  house  of  Hale  Brothers,  or  in  a  group  plan,  as  in  Provi- 
dence, where  several  stores  send  a  picked  number  of  their  em- 
ployees to  a  general  School  of  Salesmanship.  In  the  Union 
School  of  Salesmanship  the  normal  training  given  fits  teachers 
for  either  kind  of  work. 

An  initial  salary  of  $20  a  week  is  the  average  return  for  sales- 
manship teaching  as  a  vocation.  Beyond  lies  the  possibility  of 
an  income  varying  from  $1,000  to  $5,000  according  to  experience 
and  efficiency. 


SPECIAL  FORMS  OF  TEACHING  281 


TEACHING  MENTAL  DEFECTIVES 
CORA  ELIZABETH  WOOD 

TEACHER  OF  SPECIAL  CLASS,  RUTLAND  STKEET  SCHOOL,  BOSTON 

Fully  7  per  cent,  of  all  school  children  rank  somewhat  below 
the  normal  average  in  mental  capacity.  There  is  not  a  State  in 
the  Union  which  makes  ample  provision  for  its  feeble-minded. 
During  the  past  half-century,  however,  great  strides  have  been 
made  towards  meeting  the  reasonable  needs  of  all  classes  of  de- 
fectives, not  only  by  the  opening  of  State  institutions  and  schools, 
but  by  a  later  movement  towards  the  establishment  in  the  public 
schools  of  classes  for  children  requiring  special  training.  During 
the  past  five  years  or  more  there  has  been  great  progress  in  this 
"special  class"  work,  and  the  demand  for  teachers  especially 
trained  for  this  work  is  large. 

Miss  Elizabeth  Farrell,  inspector  of  ungraded  classes  in  New 
York,  states: — 

In  the  city  of  New  York  the  number  of  openings  for  teachers  of  men- 
tally deficient  children  is  most  indefinite.  We  have  about  100  classes 
now  in  operation,  which  we  consider  quite  a  number,  considering  the 
time  we  have  spent  on  the  work;  but  in  view  of  the  fact  that  there  are 
probably  7,000  children  in  need  of  special  class  training,  we  have  not 
done  much  as  yet.  We  do  need  to-day  about  400  teachers,  and  if  they 
were  available,  we  would  organize  classes  enough  to  accommodate  all 
defectives  now  in  the  schools. 

We  require  a  teacher  for  an  ungraded  class  to  have  had  three  years* 
experience  in  teaching  normal  children.  Aside  from  this,  we  advise 
specializing  along  lines  of  abnormal  psychology,  pathology,  so  far  as  it 
relates  to  conditions  found  in  abnormal  children,  and  in  all  phases  of 
hand- work. 

In  Boston,  where  there  are  but  nine  special  classes,  the  work 
has  been  limited  for  years  by  a  lack  of  experienced  teachers.  One 
year  of  special  training  or  experience  is  required,  and  examina- 
tions are  held  in  April  of  each  year.  Salaries  for  special  class 
work  in  Boston  range  from  a  minimum  of  $936,  with  an  annual 


282  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

increase  of  $48  per  annum  for  two  years,  the  maximum  being 
$1,032;  while  those  in  New  York  range  from  a  lower  minimum, 
$660,  to  a  slightly  higher  maximum,  $1,300,  with  an  annual  in- 
crease of  $40,  and  an  annual  bonus  of  $60  paid  to  teachers  of 
boys  or  mixed  classes. 

After  the  work  in  the  public  schools  the  resident  teacher  is 
most  in  demand,  especially  in  New  York,  where  the  salaries 
range  from  $40  to  $100  per  month,  with  living.  Such  teachers 
are  expected  to  teach  during  a  part  of  each  school  day.  They 
also  assume  responsibility  for  the  general  care  and  training  of 
their  charges. 

The  visiting  or  day  teacher,  who  goes  from  home  to  home  giv- 
ing lessons,  receives  from  $1  to  $2  per  hour,  according  to  the 
difficulties  of  the  case. 

Private  schools  for  backward  children  employ  a  larger  number 
of  teachers  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  pupils  in  attendance 
than  any  other  kind  of  schools.  The  most  important  of  these 
are  situated  near  Boston,  New  York,  or  Philadelphia.  Salaries 
in  private  schools,  where  special  training  for  the  work  is  not 
always  demanded,  range  from  $30  to  $50  per  month  with  home. 

In  institutions,  where  teachers  who  have  not  had  special  train- 
ing are  sometimes  accepted,  the  salaries  vary.  Those  nearest 
our  large  cities  pay  $300  for  the  first  year,  followed  by  an  annual 
increase  of  $50  to  a  maximum  of  $450  or  more,  including  home  and 
laundry. 

Training,  or  experience,  for  work  of  the  above  kinds  can  be 
obtained  only  in  institutions,  private  schools,  or  in  the  one  train- 
ing school  located  at  Vineland,  N.J.,  the  purpose  of  which  is 
to  afford  "professional  training  to  those  who  desire  to  teach 
defectives,  and  to  fit  social  workers  and  others  to  better  under- 
stand peculiar,  backward,  and  special  children/*  The  course 
covers  a  period  of  six  weeks,  from  July  13  to  August  22,  and  costs 
not  over  $60,  including  board.  Address  all  correspondence  to 
Mr.  E.  R.  Johnstone,  Superintendent. 

The  Orthogenic  School,  connected  with  the  psychological 
laboratory  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  offers  an  oppor- 
tunity for  tests  and  other  laboratory  work  under  the  direction 
of  Dr.  Lightner  Witmer. 


SPECIAL  FORMS  OF  TEACHING  283 

The  character  of  the  work  under  discussion  is  such  that  one 
entering  upon  it  needs  to  cultivate  a  never-failing  patient,  per- 
sistent, and  hopeful  attitude  of  mind,  together  with  a  sympa- 
thetic yet  practical  appreciation  of  the  difficulties  which  must 
ever  lie  in  wait  for  that  unfortunate  class  of  children  known  as 
neurotics. 


SPECIAL  CLASS  WORK  FOR  MENTAL  DEFECTIVES* 

WALTER  E.  FERNALD,  M.D. 

SUPERINTENDENT  OF  THE  MASSACHUSETTS  SCHOOL  FOR  THE  FEEBLE-MINDED,  WAVERLET 

The  actual  instruction  of  these  children  must  begin  on  a  much 
lower  plane  than  with  the  lowest  classes  of  the  grade  schools. 
It  must  begin  with  what  the  child  already  knows,  and  the  suc- 
cessive steps  must  be  very  gradual  and  progressive. 

The  physiological  exercise  and  education  of  the  special  senses 
and  the  training  of  the  voluntary  muscles  to  directed  accurate 
response  must  precede  and  prepare  the  way  for  so-called  in- 
tellectual training.  The  intelligent  use  of  the  special  senses  is 
the  basis  of  all  knowledge.  The  inactive  special  senses,  the  ob- 
structed avenues  of  approach  to  the  central  intelligence,  must 
be  opened  up  by  a  series  of  carefully  arranged  sensorial  gym- 
nastics. To  distinguish  and  to  appreciate  slight  difference  in 
colors,  form,  touch,  sound,  smell,  or  taste,  the  child  must,  to  a 
certain  extent,  be  attentive,  he  must  observe,  he  must  discrim- 
inate and  judge, — in  fact,  you  have  compelled  him  to  think. 
The  ultimate  aim  of  these  exercises  is  to  train  the  child  to  acquire 
knowledge  from  sensations. 

Next  in  importance  to  the  sense  drill  comes  the  discipline  of 
the  muscles,  not  only  for  muscular  growth  and  practical  co-ordi- 
nation, but  with  reference  to  the  now  well-recognized  relation  of 
thought  to  muscular  movement.  Motor  training,  in  the  broad- 
est sense,  is  one  of  the  most  potent  factors  in  arousing  the  feeble 

*From  an  address  before  the  Public  Education  Association  of  Philadelphia, 
November  9,  1906,  urging  the  value  of  special  classes  for  defectives  in  the  public 
schools. 


284  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

powers  of  voluntary  attention,  observation,  and  comprehension, 
and  the  weak  power  of  volition,  which  are  the  fundamental  ele- 
ments of  all  degrees  of  mental  defect.  This  motor  education 
should  begin  with  the  common  games  and  occupations  of  normal 
childhood.  The  child  should  be  taught  to  kick  a  foot-ball,  to 
throw  and  catch  a  hand-ball,  to  jump  a  rope,  etc.,  and  at  first  to 
perform  large  movements  calling  for  the  natural  use  of  the  various 
parts  of  the  body.  Ordinary  competitive  games,  marching  in 
step  and  to  music,  imitative  drill,  etc.,  prepare  the  way  for  elabo- 
rate formal  gymnastics,  involving  close  attention,  prompt  volition, 
and  definite  motor  response. 

What  has  been  said  of  motor  training  in  general  applies  with 
special  force  to  the  training  of  the  finely  co-ordinated  muscles  of 
the  fingers,  hand,  and  forearm.  There  is  a  very  intimate  rela- 
tion between  what  a  child  knows  or  thinks,  and  what  he  can  do 
with  his  hands.  The  importance  of  definite  motor  response  as 
a  means  of  exercise  and  of  development  of  mental  processes  can- 
not be  overstated.  The  kindergarten  and  manual  occupations, 
the  school  busy  work,  the  sloyd,  basketry,  weaving,  etc.,  in  great 
variety,  are  ideal  applications  of  this  principle.  Indeed,  we  have 
almost  no  other  means  of  influencing  or  measuring  the  mental 
growth  of  the  defective. 

The  regular  curriculum  of  the  three  or  four  lower  grades  is  the 
ultimate  basis  of  instruction.  Ordinary  primary  branches  are 
taught  in  accordance  with  the  modern  graphic  methods,  with 
large  emphasis  upon  attractive  sensorial  and  motor  aids  to  the 
exercise  and  expression  of  attention,  observation,  perception,  and 
judgment.  Compared  with  the  education  of  normal  children, 
it  is  a  difference  of  degree,  and  not  of  kind.  The  instruction  must 
begin  on  a  very  low  plane,  the  progress  is  slower,  the  pupil  cannot 
be  carried  so  far. 

The  success  of  the  special  classes  will  be  measured  by  the 
relative  ability  of  the  trained  pupils  to  maintain  themselves  in- 
dependently in  the  community  and  to  earn  their  own  living.  At 
an  early  age  the  manual  training  should  be  directed  toward  the 
practical  industrial  occupations.  The  girls  should  be  taught 
ordinary  domestic  work,  cooking,  laundry  work,  sewing,  mending, 
etc.,  and  the  boys  should  be  taught  various  handicrafts,  like 


SPECIAL  FORMS  OF  TEACHING  285 

painting,  simple  carpenter  work,  and  ordinary  manual  labor, 
which  will  be  the  most  likely  form  of  occupation  open  to  them. 

The  teachers  should  be  selected  with  sole  reference  to  their 
fitness  for  this  difficult  work.  They  should  begin  the  work 
young,  as  a  rule.  They  should  have  robust  physical  health,  a 
hopeful  temperament,  great  patience,  tact,  and  originality. 
They  must  be  fond  of  children,  sympathetic  and  kind,  but  firm 
and  decisive.  The  personality  of  the  teacher  is  the  all-important 
factor. 

A  teacher  with  the  above  natural  qualifications,  with  kinder- 
garten or  normal  training  and  a  little  experience  in  primary  work, 
would  be  well  equipped.  Normal  training  in  gymnastic  work  and 
the  manual  occupations  would  be  very  helpful.  In  addition  a 
few  months'  experience  as  assistant  to  the  teacher  of  an  existing 
special  class  would  be  an  ideal  preparation.  No  merely  routine 
teacher  can  succeed  in  this  work. 


THE    OPPORTUNITY    IN    PHYSICAL    EDUCATION 

AMY  M.  HOMANS 

DIRECTOR,  DEPARTMENT  OF  HYGIENE  AND  PHYSICAL  EDUCATION,  WELLESLEY  COLLEGE 

The  need  is  this:  teachers  of  human  race  culture,  who  shall  so 
inspire  men,  women,  and  children  with  the  personal  obligation 
to  the  State  and  to  their  species,  of  the  best  possible  health  at- 
tainable by  the  individual,  that  biological  science  may  cease  to 
be  the  comparatively  impotent  benevolence  that  it  at  present  is; 
that  through  clear  and  kindly  enlightenment  the  children  may  be 
led  to  instruct  the  parents, — the  parents,  eventually,  the  chil- 
dren,— both  led  to  the  physical  harmony  that  alone  can  render 
possible  the  greater  ends  of  human  life.  Only  such  teachers  can 
fulfil  the  true  demand  of  physical  education,  which  is  education 
for  physical  citizenship. 

The  need,  moreover,  is  specific.  The  human  animal  is  virtu- 
ally, by  weight,  a  mass  of  muscle.  This  mass  must  be  carried 
through  life,  and  should,  therefore,  be  rendered  a  servant,  not 


286  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

a  parasite.  Again,  this  mass  is  the  absolute  and  sole  mode  of 
expression.  Eye,  voice,  face,  limbs,  all  are  muscle  organs.  The 
warmth  of  the  body  is  produced,  distributed,  and  largely  regu- 
lated by  muscle.  Breathing  is  effected  and  controlled  by  muscu- 
lar action.  The  heart  and  digestive  canal  are  muscles.  Fatigue, 
rest,  and  refreshment  are  substantially  muscle  phenomena.  It 
is  not  irrational,  therefore,  that  physical  education  has  had  its 
beginnings,  crude  and  narrow  as  they  have  been,  in  a  concentrated 
attempt  to  exploit  the  more  evident  muscular  functions.  The 
attempt,  as  we  all  know,  has  been  carried  to  excess.  The  fact, 
however,  remains  that  the  proper  training  of  these  engines  of 
the  physical  life  is  to  a  very  high  degree  essential  in  the  pursuit 
of  health.  "Muscular  exercise  ...  is  the  greatest  source  of 
vigorous  bodily  and  mental  health."  This  is  the  authoritative 
verdict  of  modern  physiology.  The  fact  is  patent  when  we  con- 
sider that  efficient  muscular  function  is  our  sole  means  of  pursuing 
our  relations  with  what  is  still  man's  natural  environment, — out 
of  doors.  The  out-of-door  life  is  the  touchstone  of  bodily  and 
mental  fitness.  Thus  the  physical  nurture  of  the  race  calls  for 
teachers  trained  not  alone  in  the  class-room,  but  in  the  art  of 
human  adaptation  to  man's  most  favorable  surroundings, — teach- 
ers of  hygiene,  in  its  sense  of  enlightened  sympathy  with  the 
nature  of  which  we  are  all  a  part. 

It  is  a  significant  and  encouraging  fact  that  the  demand  in  this 
country  for  teachers  of  physical  education  is  by  no  means  con- 
fined to  localities,  but  is  wide-spread.  The  call  comes  from  edu- 
cational and  other  institutions  of  many  kinds  in  many  places, 
and  is  a  recognition  by  the  teaching  conscience  of  the  country 
that  no  education  can  be  complete  that  leaves  out  the  physical 
basis  of  human  efficiency.  During  the  academic  year  1908-09 
the  Boston  Normal  School  of  Gymnastics  was  called  upon  to  fill 
115  teaching  vacancies  in  universities,  colleges,  state  normal 
schools,  public  and  private  schools,  and  institutions  for  deaf- 
mutes,  the  blind,  insane,  and  feeble-minded.  For  these  there  were 
but  61  candidates  available,  leaving  54  positions  refused.  So  far 
this  year,  1909-10,  33  applications  for  teachers  have  been 
made  to  the  Department  of  Hygiene  and  Physical  Education  in 
Wellesley  College,  involving  a  certain  repetition  of  the  situation 


SPECIAL  FORMS  OF  TEACHING  287 

Above  stated.  The  opportunity  for  service  in  this  most  fertile 
field  is  therefore  far  beyond  the  deterring  influence  of  competi- 
tion, except  in  so  far  as  high  personal  qualifications  are  absolutely 
essential. 

Financially,  the  outlook  for  the  qualified  teacher  of  physical 
education  is  most  encouraging.  Salaries  earned  by  women  in 
this  field  range  from  $600  to  $2,500,  there  being  every  possibility 
of  the  efficient  teacher  increasing  her  responsibilities,  with  at- 
tendant financial  return,  as  experience  accumulates.  The  con- 
servative average  salary  is  about  $1,100. 

The  training  which  such  positions  demand  is  definite  and  ex- 
acting. By  intense  concentration  of  curriculum  and  enforce- 
ment of  whole-souled  attention  to  the  matter  in  hand,  results 
have  been  attained  in  students  whose  preparation  for  a  profes- 
sional course  has  been  far  from  adequate.  Such  a  two  or  three 
years'  course,  however,  though  producing  useful,  energetic 
teachers,  falls  short  of  its  possibilities  because  graduates  often 
lack  the  maturity  and  broad  general  training  that  a  complete 
college  course  should  impart.  The  demand  is  emphatically  for 
teachers  having  the  full  status  of  college  graduates.  The  work 
now  being  undertaken  at  Wellesley  College  is  a  serious  attempt 
to  place  physical  education  as  a  profession  on  a  thorough  aca- 
demic basis  of  at  least  four  years  of  well-planned  college  study, 
which  shall  be  so  ordered  that  the  broader  as  well  as  the  more  in- 
tensive training  shall  contribute  to  a  well-rounded  normal  course. 
Especially  important  in  such  a  course  are  a  firm  grasp  of  expres- 
sion in  spoken  and  written  language  and  an  appreciative,  workable 
knowledge  of  the  scientific  bases  which  lead  through  physical 
science  to  the  actual  application  of  physiological  theory  to  the 
problems  of  health.  Whenever  the  need  has  been  recognized 
in  communities  establishing  a  focus  of  hygienic  enlightenment 
and  a  real  opportunity  made  for  it,  the  results  have  invariably 
been  most  marked. 

Finally,  it  must  be  reiterated  that  in  no  form  of  teaching  is 
personal  endowment  more  essential  than  here.  The  ability  to 
influence  and  organize  means  magnetism  and  personality.  A 
high  sense  of  vocation  with  clear  conception  of  its  meaning  and 
ideals  is  here,  without  exception,  necessary.  Added  to  this  must 


288  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED    WOMAN 

be  the  endurance  demanded  by  hard  physical  work,  together  with 
those  more  subtle  qualifications  of  nervous  organization  which 
impart  quickness  and  muscular  accuracy,  together  with  a  love  of 
and  capacity  for  rhythmic  expression.  Thus  equipped,  a  woman 
entering  the  teaching  field  of  physical  education  has  before  her 
the  prospect  of  mighty  things  and  takes  her  place  in  the  fore- 
front of  true  human  progress. 


CORRECTIVE    WORK    IN    PHYSICAL    EDUCATION* 

ROBERT  W.  LOVETT,  M.D. 

BOSTON 

By  common  consent  the  field  of  physical  education  is  divided 
into  two  parts,  the  educational  and  the  corrective.  Some  knowl- 
edge of  both  is  necessary  for  the  proper  practice  of  either  one, 
but  in  general  the  divisions  are  fairly  distinct  both  in  the  schools 
and  in  practice.  I  shall  deal  in  this  article  entirely  with  the 
corrective  side  of  the  work.  In  order  to  start  with  a  perfectly 
clear  understanding  of  terms,  I  mean  by  the  corrective  side  of 
physical  education  a  knowledge  of  the  application  of  both  medi- 
cal gymnastics  and  massage  to  pathological  conditions. 

The  practical  questions  which  arise  at  the  outset  of  a  con- 
sideration of  this  problem  of  corrective  work  are  :  (1)  Is  there 
a  demand  for  this  class  of  work?  (2)  What  should  be  the  prep- 
aration for  it?  (3)  Is  it  possible  to  obtain  this  preparation? 
(4)  What  is  the  remuneration?  (5)  Is  it  a  dignified  and  proper 
calling  for  a  young  woman  to  follow? 

1.  Is  there  a  demand  for  persons  skilled  in  corrective  work? 
I  must  remind  you  that  fifty  years  has  made  a  change  in  medical 
practice.  Drugs  given  so  largely  fifty  years  ago  are  to-day  being 
given  much  less,  and  their  place  is  being  taken  by  more  rational 
measures,  to  be  classed  as  physical  therapeutics;  namely,  elec- 
tricity, baths  of  water,  hot  air,  and  light,  massage,  medical  gym- 

*  Extract  from  a  paper  read  before  the  Boston  Society  for  Physical  Education, 
May  17,  1906. 


SPECIAL   FORMS  OF  TEACHING  289 

nasties,  exercises  in  apparatus,  etc.  You  need  look  no  further 
than  to  the  prevalence  of  osteopathy  in  this  community  to  show 
you  the  signs  of  the  times.  Again,  the  last  fifty  years  has  dif- 
ferentiated medical  practice  into  specialties.  Where  the  gen- 
eral practitioner  in  former  days  treated  everything,  to-day  the 
surgeon,  the  neurologist,  the  physician,  and  the  orthopedic  sur- 
geon has  each  his  field,  and  each  deals  with  the  special  class  of 
diseases  coming  to  him  by  means  of  treatment  constantly  in- 
creasing in  complexity  and  refinement,  and  with  constantly  in- 
creasing emphasis  on  physical  means  of  treatment. 

Having  given  these  glimpses  of  a  large  field,  let  me  speak  still 
further  of  a  class  of  practitioners  very  largely  dependent  on  skil- 
ful corrective  workers  to  aid  them.  The  orthopedic  surgeon 
treats  deformities  and  joint  disease.  In  these  he  naturally  needs 
the  highest  skill  that  he  can  procure  to  aid  him  in  exercises,  mas- 
sage, and  general  corrective  work.  The  medical  gymnast  is, 
therefore,  indispensable  to  the  orthopedic  surgeon,  and  each  sur- 
geon must  have  at  least  one  such  helper  or  the  partial  time  of  one. 
The  American  Orthopedic  Association,  embracing  by  no  means 
all  of  the  practising  orthopedic  surgeons,  numbers  about  60  mem- 
bers, and  its  members  come  from  many  cities.  Each  one  of  these 
and  many  others  must  have  at  least  one  skilful  helper.  Add 
to  this  the  hundreds  of  surgeons,  physicians,  and  neurologists, 
and  finally  consider  the  thousands  of  general  practitioners  who 
are  anxious  to  avail  themselves  of  physical  therapeutics,  and 
you  will  conclude  that  there  is  plenty  of  work  to  be  had. 

Yet  there  is  hardly  a  week  in  the  year  when  some  one  does  not 
come  to  my  office  to  ask  me  to  send  him  or  her  patients  in  medi- 
cal massage  and  gymnastics,  and  many  of  them  tell  me  that  they 
find  but  little  work.  Why  is  this,  if  the  field  is  so  large,  as  I  have 
said?  Because  the  product  is  not  what  the  consumers  need. 
The  orthopedic  surgeon,  for  example,  does  not  want  a  woman  who 
has  been  given  a  few  lessons  in  the  technique  of  massage,  a  woman 
who  knows  about  educational  gymnastics  and  the  theory  of  gym- 
nastics, yet  who  has  had  only  a  cursory  experience  in  their  applica- 
tion to  patients.  There  are  too  many  such  now  in  the  field. 
I  am  told  that  $10  a  week  stenographers  are  to  be  had  by 
the  hundred,  but  that  women  worth  $20  a  week  are  ex- 


290  VOCATIONS  FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

tremely  hard  to  find,  and  are  generally  occupied.  What  the 
orthopedic  surgeon  wants  is  a  higher  grade  of  medical  gymnast 
than  is  now  educated  in  this  country — a  woman  with  a  sound 
working  knowledge  of  anatomy,  especially  surface  anatomy,  a 
familiarity  with  physiology,  enough  to  acquaint  her  with  what 
muscular  activity  means  in  physiological  terms,  enough  instruc- 
tion in  symptomatology  to  know  that  shortness  of  breath  means 
one  of  several  pathological  conditions  and  what  these  are,  to 
know  the  symptoms  of  fatigue,  and  what  nervous  prostration  is. 
She  must  know  in  general  the  symptoms  of  inflammation,  and 
especially  must  she  know  the  different  kinds  of  joint  disease,  at 
least  theoretically.  In  short,  she  must  be  better  grounded  than 
now  in  the  foundation  facts  of  physiology,  pathology,  and  symp- 
tomatology, and  above  all  she  must  be  taught  to  use  her  mind 
and  to  make  her  own  applications.  There  is  at  present  too  much 
teaching  of  detail  and  too  little  of  principles.  The  teaching 
must  in  a  measure  be  done  by  medical  men  in  active  practice; 
they  have  had  too  little  share  in  the  education  of  their  helpers, 
and  they  are  but  little  represented  in  the  schools  which  teach  in 
some  degree  medical  gymnastics  and  corrective  work.  In  the 
catalogues  of  all  the  schools  of  physical  education  that  I  could 
find,  there  were  117  instructors,  of  whom  only  23  were  gradu- 
ates of  medical  schools,  and  many  of  these,  I  assume,  were  not 
in  active  practice. 

I  come  now  to  the  question  of  massage  and  its  teaching.  In 
Germany  the  art,  as  should  be  the  case,  is  taught  by  the  surgeon 
and  in  large  measure  practised  by  him.  The  physiology  of 
massage  is  taught,  and  what  it  can  do  in  physiological  terms,  the 
anatomical  reasons  for  certain  manipulations  and  the  physiol- 
ogy of  percussion,  effleurage,  and  kneading.  The  technique  is 
secondary  to  sound  theoretical  knowledge,  for  the  manipulator 
knows  what  he  wants  to  do  and  what  means  are  at  his  disposal; 
and  whether  his  touch  be  light  or  heavy,  whether  his  hands  be 
rough  or  smooth,  he  is  using  his  brain  to  guide  his  hands  and  he 
is  more  likely  to  get  results  than  the  person  who  uses  his  hands 
alone.  For  some  years  I  have  been  asking  many  of  the  people 
who  applied  to  me  for  massage  to  massage  my  arm  in  order  to 
show  me  their  method.  In  this  way  I  have  had  experience  of 


SPECIAL  FORMS  OF  TEACHING  291 

many  varieties  of  technique  and  methods  of  various  kinds,  but 
as  a  rule  an  aimless  manipulation,  inefficient  and  on  the  whole 
unintelligent.  For  massage,  therefore,  I  would  advocate  instruc- 
tion and  drill  in  the  principles  of  the  anatomy  and  physiology 
of  the  treatment,  especially  as  to  the  reasons  for  each  manipu- 
lation, and  above  all  I  would  ask  for  massage  from  the  brain 
and  not  wholly  from  the  hands.  I  would  lay  less  stress  on  tech- 
nique and  more  on  principles,  and  never  teach  technique  alone. 

2.  I  have  thus  come  to  what  I  regard  as  the  most  important 
requirement    in  corrective  work,  the  education  of  the  worker; 
and  I  use  the  word  "education"  literally.     It  does  not  matter  so 
much  whether  the  instruction  period  be  two  years  or  four,  and  it 
is  not  of  primary  importance  that  the  subjects  taught  cover  ex- 
actly one  ground  or  another,  so  long  as  they  embody  the  essen- 
tials; but  it  does  matter  very  much,  and  is  to  my  mind  of  primary 
importance,  that  the  pupil  should  be  taught  to  use  her  mind  and 
think  for  herself.     I  would  not  make  the  training  a  drill  in  the 
technique  of  medical  gymnastics  and  massage,  but  a  grounding 
in  the  principles  on  which  these  arts  rest  and  an  application  of 
these  principles  to  practical  conditions.     The  equivalent  of  at  least 
one  year  of  practical  clinical  work  is  necessary  for  the  proper  train- 
ing of  a  corrective  worker.     This  may  not  be  necessarily  in  addi- 
tion to  the  two  years  of  the  course,  or  whatever  the  length  of  the 
course  may  be,  but  contemporaneous  with  part  of  it.     I  know  that 
corrective  workers  can  be  turned  out  in  six  weeks  or  three  months, 
but  the  kind  of  corrective  worker  that  I  mean  will  have  to  take  a 
course  of  at  least  two  years,  and  a  year  of  practical  work,  half  of 
the  latter,  perhaps,  being  contemporaneous  with  the  two  years* 
course.     I  can  see  no  reason  why  this  should  not  be  sufficient 
time,  provided  the  instruction  is  adequate,  digested,  and  focussed. 

3.  Is  it  possible  to  obtain  this  preparation?     I  have  examined 
with  care  the  catalogues  of  all  the  schools  of  physical  training 
in  America  that  I  have  been  able  to  find,  and  nowhere  have  I  seen 
a  course  covering  the  requirements  that  I  have  mentioned.     At 
present  a  young  woman,  to  qualify  properly,  must  go  to  Europe 
for  at  least  a  year,  where,  in  Germany  preferably,  she  can  re- 
ceive adequate  instruction  from  medical  hands  and  fit  herself  to 
meet  the  medical  demand. 


292  VOCATIONS   FOR  THE  TRAINED  WOMAN 

4.  What  is  the  remuneration  to  be  expected?     A  person  doing 
corrective  work  may  do  so  in  one  of  three  ways:   first,  she  may 
assist  a  physician,  and  give  him  all  her  time  for  a  salary;  second, 
she  may  open  a  gymnasium  and  take  patients  from  several  physi- 
cians, but  only  from  physicians,  and  not  treat  cases  on  her  own 
account;  third,  she  may  work  as  a  free  lance,  and  get  patients 
when  and  where  she  can,  with  or  without  the  doctor's  consent  and 
approval.     The  first  is  the  most  desirable  and  the  safest,  the  sec- 
ond may  or  may  not  succeed,  and  the  third  course  is  likely  ulti- 
mately to  fail,  although  the  personal  popula  -ity  of  the  woman  may 
carry  it  to  success.     Lacking,  as  she  must,  however,  the  support 
of  the  profession,  many  difficulties  must  arise,  and  the  handicap 
is  a  large  one. 

For  women  equipped  only  with  the  present  training  in  correc- 
tive work,  a  large  salary  cannot  be  expected,  nor  is  the  present 
demand  very  great  for  such  workers  as  physicians'  assistants. 
It  is  the  old  question  of  the  $10  and  $20  stenographer.  I  know 
men  who  would  gladly  pay  a  large  salary  for  such  helpers,  but 
they  cannot  get  them  in  America,  as  a  rule,  although  here  and 
there  an  exceptionally  clever  woman  fits  herself  to  meet  the 
conditions,  and  becomes  worth  $1,500  or  $1,800.  The  free  lance 
may  in  exceptional  cases  make  much  more  for  a  while,  but  the 
end  may  come  at  any  time,  and  the  position  is  not  suited  to  a 
woman  of  brains  and  self-respect. 

5.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  a  woman,  educated  as  I 
have  described,  acting  as  assistant  to  a  physician  or  taking  pa- 
tients from  physicians,  will  find  herself  in  a  position  of  dignity  and 
in  a  place  of  which  no  one  need  be  ashamed.     The  work  is  no  less 
pleasant  than  educational  work,  and  no  less  dignified.     It  is  more 
varied.    The  relation  with  patients  is  a  pleasant  one,  and  a  cer- 
tain professional  standing  comes  to  one  who  will  keep  her  profes- 
sional and  social  relations  apart  from  each  other, — a  matter  of 
much  practical  importance. 


INDEX 


Advertising:  168-173;  in  department 
store,  176,  180;  in  publishing  house, 
245,  249;  for  magazines,  256;  il- 
lustrating for,  172  f .  n.,  267  f . 

Agent:  reception,  Association  for  Im- 
proving the  Condition  of  the  Poor, 
36;  Charity  Organization,  38;  Chil- 
dren's Aid  Association,  Society  for 
the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Chil- 
dren, 3,  41;  juvenile  court,  3;  State 
Charities  Aid  Association,  18;  in- 
surance, 198;  real  estate,  196. 

Agriculture,  122-133;  special  forms 
of,  133-167;  civil  service  positions 
in,  7,  77,  129;  department  of,  State 
and  United  States,  5,  7,  75,  130. 

Anatomy  and  Histology:  preparing 
slides,  77. 

Bacteriology:  in  laboratories  of  Boards 
of  Health,  77;  in  private  laboratories, 
77;  in  dairy  farm,  77,  78,  127  ff.; 
research  in,  Rockefeller  Foundation, 
etc.,  78. 

Banking,  188-195. 

"Bank  Lady,"  189. 

Bee-keeping,  129  ff.,  152  ff. 

Biology,  76-78. 

Boards  of  Health:  State  and  munici- 
pal, laboratory  work  under,  75,  77. 

Book-binding:    in  museum,  80. 

Book-keeping:  in  bank,  189;  in  de- 
partment store,  177;  in  magazine 
house,  256;  in  publishing  house, 
244. 

Botany:  opportunities  in  civil  service. 
6,  7,  77,  129;  in  agricultural  experi- 
ment stations,  77. 

Broker:  insurance,  198  ff.;  real  estate, 
195  ff. 

Bureau  of  Municipal  Research;  open- 
ings in,  30-33. 

Business,  168-199. 

Buyer,  186-188;  in  department  store, 
102,  174,  178,  182,  183,  185;  in 
dressmaking  establishments,  110;  in 
millinery  shops  115. 

Canning:  preserving,  159. 


Cashier:  in  bank,  188;  in  magazine 
house,  256. 

Catering,  85,  94  ff. 

Charity-Organization  work,  3,   36-40. 

Chemistry,  74-76;  research  in,  3;  in 
United  States  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, 7. 

Child-saving:  State  and  municipal, 
Massachusetts,  14  ff.;  New  York, 
19  f.  n.;  State  Charities  Aid  Asso- 
ciation, 18  ff.;  Children's  Aid  So- 
ciety, etc.,  3,  40-42. 

Civil  service,  4-8;  examinations,  7,  8, 
11,  12,  15;  opportunities  in,  federal, 
6,  7,  11,  77,  129,  166;  State,  7  f., 
14  f.,  15,  16,  17,  19  f.  n.;  municipal, 
7  f.,  8,  11,  15,  19  f.  n. 

Clerical  work:  in  Association  for  Im- 
proving the  Condition  of  the  Poor, 
36;  in  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,, 
31;  in  Charity  Organization,  38;  in 
banks,  189;  in  department  stores, 
177;  in  magazine  work,  254,  256; 
in  newspaper  work,  237,  238;  in 
publishing  houses,  244  f.,  248-250;  in 
Art  Museum,  271;  technical  clerk, 
civil  service,  6,  129;  clerical  and  sec- 
retarial work,  201-213. 

Club  director,  3,  26,  61. 

Consumers'  League :  research  in,  29,  30. 

Critic:   on  newspaper,  231. 

Curator:  in  Museum  of  Natural  His- 
tory, 79;  in  Art  Museum,  272. 

Dairy  farming,  77,  78,  127  f.,  141,  144, 
146-150. 

Department  store,  173-186;  dress- 
making in,  101;  interior  decoration 
in,  105;  millinery  in,  102. 

Designing:  commercial,  268  f.;  of  cut 
flowers,  128;  in  dressmaking,  101, 
105  f.,  109;  in  millinery,  113  f. 

Dietitian,  72,  83-84,  85  ff.,  87  ff.,  91. 

District  nursing,  72. 

Decent  (Museum  Instructor):  in  Mu- 
seum of  Natural  Science,  79;  in 
Art  Museum,  271. 

Domestic  Art,  100-121. 


293 


294 


INDEX 


Domestic  Science,  81-100. 

Dressmaking,  101,  107-113;  in  de- 
partment store,  adviser,  101;  head 
of  department,  101;  head  of  work- 
room, 176,  179. 

Editorial  work:  in  Bureau  of  Munici- 
pal Research,  31,  32;  in  Charity 
Organization,  38;  in  civil  service, 
6;  in  Museum  of  Natural  History, 
79;  on  magazine,  254  f.;  on  news- 
paper, 233,  234,  236,  238;  in  publish- 
ing house,  246,  248. 

Farming:  general,  124,  132,  133-145; 
special,  125-130,  147-160. 

Fashion  drawing,  265  f.,  269. 

Filing  clerk:  in  bank,  191  ff.;  in  maga- 
zine house,  256.  See  INDEXING. 

Floor- walker:  in  department  store,  175, 
179,  182. 

Floriculture,  128,  129,  158-160. 

Forestry,  163-167;  civil  service,  77, 166. 

Free  lancing,  241  ff. 

Government  service,  4-8,  8-18,  29,  73, 
75,  77,  78,  129,  130,  165,  166. 

Gymnastics:  medical,  288  f.  See 
PHYSICAL  TRAINING. 

Head  of  stock  in  department  store, 
183. 

Head  of  workroom  in  department 
store,  176,  179. 

Head-worker  in  settlement,  59  ff. 

Horticulture,  128;  opportunities  in 
civil  service,  77,  129;  laboratory  as- 
sistants in,  129. 

Hospital:  dietitian  in,  72,  83,  86,  91; 
social  service  in,  42-49;  superintend- 
ent of,  71. 

Hotel  management,  93  f . 

Housekeeper:  in  hotel,  93;  visiting,  95. 

Illustrating,  264  f . ;  for  fashion  maga- 
zine, 265  f . ;  for  advertisement,  267  f . ; 
in  Museum  of  Natural  History,  80. 

Indexing,  258  ff. 

Industrial  teaching,  14,  17,  56,  58,  60, 
82  f.,  273  ff.,  277  f.  n.,  284. 

Inspector:  factory,  29,  73;  lodging 
house,  30;  medical,  in  schools,  72; 
pure  food,  3,  150;  sanitary,  2;  tene- 
ment house,  29,  73. 

Institutional  management,  71,  84  f., 
89-97. 

Insurance,  198  ff. 

Interior  decorating,  103,  104,  119-121; 
in  department  store,  105. 

Investigation:  in  Bureau  of  Municipal 
Research,  31,  32;  in  forestry,  166;  of 


industrial  problems,  29;  of  insect 
pests,  78;  of  poultry  problems,  125, 
126;  of  pure  food,  3;  patent  investiga- 
tor, civil  service,  6;  medical  social  re- 
search, 46.  See  RESEARCH. 

Journalism,  227-244,  250-258;  as  con- 
nected with  agriculture,  125,  129. 

Juvenile  court,  3,  13. 

Kindergarten:  opportunities  for,  in 
playground  work,  22;  in  settlement 
work,  56,  58;  in  teaching  mental 
defectives,  284. 

Landscape  gardening,  129,  130,  161- 
163. 

Laundry  work,  85,  97  ff. 

Librarian:  nature  of  work,  215-220; 
training,  221-226;  in  bank,  191  ff., 
194  f.;  in  civil  service,  6;  in  Museum 
of  Natural  History,  79;  in  Art  Mu- 
seum, 271;  in  social  centre,  26;  in 
relation  to  agriculture,  131. 

Lunch  room:  management,84,  96  f. 

Magazine  work,  250-258. 

Makers  of  flowers:  for  Museum  of 
Natural  History,  80. 

Making  of  children's  clothes,  101. 

Management  of  houses:  in  connection 
with  settlement  work,  56.  See  RENT 
COLLECTING. 

Market  Gardening,  154-158. 

Marshal:  in  State  Reformatory,  17. 

Massage:   in  physical  education,  290  f. 

Matron:  in  {State  Reformatory,  17;  of 
college  dormitory,  89;  of  industrial 
schools,  41;  of  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association  Homes,  etc., 
90,  91;  of  large  institutions,  83. 

Millinery,  102,  103,  113-118;  in  depart- 
ment store,  head  of  department,  102. 

Museum  work:  art,  270-272;  science, 
79  f. 

Newspaper  work:  organization,  227- 
236;  individual  experience,  236-240; 
free  lancing,  241  ff. 

Nurse,  71-73;  in  Association  for  Im- 
proving the  Condition  of  the  Poor, 
35;  in  Charity  Organization,  38;  in 
settlement,  56,  58;  as  visitor,  15. 

Parole  officer:  in  State  Reformatory, 
17. 

Pathology:  research  in,  3,  17. 

Pharmacology,  78. 

Philanthropy,  Schools  of,  28,  39,  44. 

Physical  education:  'educational  work, 
285-288;  opportunities  for,  in  play- 
ground work',  23-24;  in  social 


INDEX. 


295 


centres,  26;  in  settlement  work,  56; 
in  teaching  mental  defectives,  284;  in 
Young  Women's  Christian  Associa- 
tion, 70;  preparation  for,  78;  cor- 
rective work,  288-291. 

Physician:  in  State  Reformatory,  15, 
17;  in  settlements,  56,  58. 

Physiology:  research  assistant  in,  78. 

Playground  work,  20-25. 

Police  matron,  8. 

Poultry  raising,  125,  132,  151  f. 

Probation  work,  9-13;  in  juvenile 
court,  13;  department  of,  State  In- 
dustrial School,  14;  in  Society  for 
Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children, 
41  f.;  related  to  nursing,  73. 

Proof-reading:  in  Bureau  of  Municipal 
Research,  31,  32;  on  newspaper,  237, 
238;  in  publishing  house,  246;  on 
magazine,  254. 

Publishing  house  work,  244-250. 

Real  estate,  195  ff.;  in  connection  with 
insurance,  199. 

Reformatory  work:  research  in,  4;  in 
Massachusetts  State  Industrial 
School,  14  ff.;  in  New  York  State  in- 
stitutions, 16  f. 

Rent  collecting,  49-55. 

Reporter:  in  Bureau  of  Municipal  Re- 
search, 32;  on  newspaper,  231,  233, 
236. 

Research:  training  for,  2,  28,  32;  qualifi- 
cation for,  2;  economic,  4,  28-30; 
fellowships,  39;  municipal  and  politi- 
cal, 3;  municipal,  30-33;  scientific, 
3;  in  agricultural  experiment  station, 
in  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture,  130;  in  bacteriology, 
Rockefeller  Foundation,  etc.,  78;  in 
biology  as  research  assistant  in  mu- 
seum of  natural  history,  79;  in 
chemistry,  75;  in  physiology,  78;  in 
zoology,  78;  in  publishing  houses, 
249;  in  sanitary  science,  3,  75;  so- 
cial, 3;  Bureau  of,  Russell  Sage 
Foundation,  39;  social  and  economic, 
in  Association  for  Improving  the 
Condition  of  the  Poor,  35;  in  settle- 
ments, 61  f.;  in  State  Reformatory, 
medical  social,  46.  See  INVESTIGA- 
TION. 

Restaurant:   management,  94,  96,  f. 

Russell  Sage  Foundation,  29,  39. 

Saleswoman:  in  department  store,  182; 
in  dressmaking  establishment,  110; 
in  millinery  shop,  115,  118. 


Secretarial  work,  201-214;  in  Asso- 
ciation for  Improving  the  Condition 
of  the  Poor,  36;  in  Bureau  of  Mu- 
nicipal Research,  31,  32;  in  Charity 
Organization,  37,  38,  39;  in  civil 
service,  6;  in  magazine  house,  256;- 
in  Museum  of  Natural  History,  79; 
in  publishing  house,  246  f.;  for  sci- 
entist, 76,  78;  in  settlements,  59,  60  f. 
n.;  in  State  Charities  Aid  Association, 
18;  in  Young  Women's  Christian  As- 
sociation, 68,  90. 

Settlement  work,  56-63;  training  for, 
3,  29;  assistants  in,  59,  60  f.  n.;  club 
directors  in,  61;  head- workers  in, 
59  f.;  industrial  teachers  in,  56,  58,  60 
f.  n.;  stenographers  in,  59. 

Small-fruit  growing,  160. 

Social  centre  work,  25-27. 

Statistical  work:  in  Association  for 
Improving  the  Condition  of  the 
Poor,  35,  36;  in  bank,  194  f.;  in 
civil  service,  6;  in  department  store, 
177,  182. 

Stenographer:  in  bank,  189;  in  Bu- 
reau of  Municipal  Research,  31; 
in  Charity  Organization,  38;  in  civil 
service,  6;  in  magazine  house,  254; 
in  publishing  house,  245,  246;  in 
settlements,  59. 

Steward:    in  State  Reformatory,  17. 

Superintendent:  in  Children's  Aid  So- 
cieties, 41;  of  college  dormitories, 
etc.,  89;  of  employees  in  department 
store,  180,  181,  182;  of  hospitals,  71; 
of  industrial  schools,  14,  15,  41,  42; 
of  State  Reformatory,  16;  of  Relief 
Association  for  Improving  the  Condi- 
tion of  the  Poor,  36;  of  Sea  Breeze, 
36;  of  training  school  for  nurses, 
72;  of  Young  Women's  Christian 
Association  Home,  etc.,  90  f.  Super- 
visor: in  Charity  Organization,  38;  of 
visitors,  35;  in  Association  for  Im- 
proving the  Condition  of  the  Poor,  36. 

Teaching:  of  agriculture,  131;  of 
domestic  arts,  81  f.,  107;  of  dress- 
making, 56;  of  millinery,  116  f.;  of 
sewing,  35;  of  domestic  science, 
58,  81-83,  70;  of  cooking,  35,  56; 
of  industrial  subjects,  14,  17,  56, 
58,  60  f.  n.,  82  f.,  273  ff.,  277  ff.,  284; 
of  hygiene,  47;  of  mental  defectives, 
281  ff.;  of  physical  education, 285  ff.; 
of  salesmanship,  277-280;  voca- 
tional, 273-276. 


296  INDEX 

Teller:    in  bank,  189.  of  the  Poor,  34,  36;    factory  inspec- 

Translating,  261-263;  in  civil  service,  6.  tor,  29  f.  n. 

Tuberculosis  work,  19,  46,  73.  Vocational  teaching,  273-276. 

Visitor:     of   children   and  girls   under  Welfare  work,  3,  63-67,  176. 

State,  14  f.,  19  f.  n.;  under  Children's  Young    Women's    Christian    Associa- 

Aid  Society,   41;  of  families,   Asso-  tion  work,  68-70,  90  f. 

ciation  for  Improving  the  Condition  Zoology:    opportunities  for,  in  govern- 
ment service,  6,  78. 


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